After registering a spike in robberies in Victoria in 2016, Victoria Police on Monday announced it has joined forces with community, government and private sector stakeholders to establish an innovative crime prevention and detection body – Safety Alliance Victoria.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Tess Walsh said it marked a new and exciting era in collaborative crime-fighting.
“As an alliance our greatest strength will be in our ability to pool our passion, knowledge and resources to provide a collaborative and innovative approach to crime prevention in order to deliver long-term benefits for Victorians.”
Safety Alliance Victoria will support a range of campaigns outlined in the Victoria Police Burglary Reduction Strategy, which aims to drive down residential burglaries by 10 per cent over four years
Its first piece of work, Protect | Prevent, will be a six month pilot utilising a recent innovation in traceable liquid property marking, which enables people to mark and register valuable items for future identification purposes.
From August, local police and Neighbourhood Watch volunteers will deliver kits containing a unique synthetic DNA code to 1000 homes across Geelong and Whittlesea.
Each kit will contain a clear liquid that can be applied to up to 50 valuable items including tablets, jewellery and appliances, and is registered to the people occupying the home.
If a marked item is stolen and recovered then police can use a UV lamp to identify the presence of the liquid and then test it to determine the unique DNA code and its registered owner.
Police hope the technology will assist people in safeguarding their possessions and homes in order to deter potential offenders.
“This pilot is an Australian first; however the technology has already been utilised by police in the U.K and New Zealand where it helped achieve significant reductions in burglary offences,” Assistant Commissioner Walsh said.
“Because the technology was found to act as a deterrent to thieves, Protect | Prevent will be supported by visual saturation at a local level through street and house signage to help us achieve success.”
Safety Alliance Victoria is a formal partnership between Victoria Police, RACV, Neighbourhood Watch, Crime Stoppers Victoria and Federation University which aims to improve the safety of all Victorians.
Further work outlined in the Victoria Police Burglary Reduction Strategy includes:
• Improving police practice through more face-to-face contact with victims of residential burglary and their neighbours
• Improving the police response to residential burglary through enhanced forensic examination processes and intelligence sharing
• Further home security and crime prevention initiatives
• Building stronger, better connected communities through localised social media and community engagement campaigns.
