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City of London police use SmartWater on 'trap bikes' to catch cycle thievesCity of London road sign BIKE THIEVES

City of London police use SmartWater on 'trap bikes' to catch cycle thieves

The permanent staining liquid, with its unique code, is virtually impossible to remove, say police, and gives them conclusive proof of ownership
by Laura Laker
Thu, Jul 23, 2015 12:09
13

The City of London police are using traceable permanent UV dye, SmartWater, in sting operations to help officers catch bike thieves in the Square Mile.

Last year on average 38 bikes were stolen per month in the Square Mile and to help curb the growth in theft police are placing 'trap bikes' with SmartWater around the City.

The permanent liquid, which police say is almost impossible to remove, and is only visible under UV light, comes with a unique 'code' which is traceable to a specific location.

Temporary Superintendent Helen Isaac from the City of London Police said, “The use of ‘trap bikes’ has been very successful in other force areas in helping the police catch and prosecute offenders. We hope this method will help decrease the number of pedal cycles stolen in the City of London.

“The bikes will be marked with a transferrable form of SmartWater which will mark the skin and clothing of the thief, directly linking them to the stolen bike.

“Signs warning of the use of SmartWater and ‘trap bikes’ will be placed in hotspot areas giving a clear message to thieves to stay clear, otherwise they will end up being arrested.”

Forensic tests on stolen goods retrieved allow police to conclusively prove ownership of marked goods, they say.

SmartWater on a mobile phone under UV light

The force also offers free bike marking with BikeRegister.com - information on marking events is available via Twitter accounts @citypolice or @citycyclecop.

In March the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, announced the world's largest rollout of SmartWater to reduce burglary rates across the capital. In one trial across five boroughs use of the liquid reduced burglaries by 49%, with some areas seeing reductions of 70%.

sting operation
SmartWater
London Bike Theft
City of London Police
Laura Laker

Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.

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13 comments

Avatar
Darkhairedlord | 9 years ago
0 likes

Glue on the pedals anD no brakes. Just like the blues brothers...

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notenoughbikes | 9 years ago
0 likes

What happens if you have to move a bike that has SmartWater on it to get your bike out of a busy city centre bike rack? These are the most common place for bikes to be stolen from and I can see innocent people being marked.

I think loosening bolts on target bikes is a better way of removing undesirables from the streets.

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stolenbikes88 | 9 years ago
0 likes

@Stumps, GPS does get lost in built up areas and TBH isn't that accurate. We tried a consumer one here https://stolen-bikes.co.uk/spybike-gps-tracker/ in the center of Leicester and it was around 200 yards out most of the time (useful just not that useful).

I believe some forces use UHF tracking instead (the same stuff used in Falconry) but it takes some skill to use it effectively.

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Judge dreadful | 9 years ago
0 likes

I love the stuff, all of my bikes are coated in it.

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orderodonata | 9 years ago
0 likes

Sounds a nice easy deterrent, but what's to stop a clued up thief carrying a UV torch and spotting the marked bike? And you still have to catch them with the goods.

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Stumps | 9 years ago
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Smart water has been in use for years now and is a really good bit of kit.

City of London is a very small area which is surrounded by the Met, they are 2 seperate forces just in case people didn't know.

We use GPS fitted tracker bikes in our area but i heard someone say that in heavily built up areas, such as the inner city the GPS signal gets lost at times, dont know if this is correct ????

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skull-collector... | 9 years ago
0 likes

Smartwater (TM) which was founded by an ex copper, must be pissing themselves with excitement

also

just the sq mile?

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Airzound replied to skull-collector-not-really | 9 years ago
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skull-collector-not-really wrote:

Smartwater (TM) which was founded by an ex copper, must be pissing themselves with excitement

also

just the sq mile?

Errr ……… Smartwater was actually developed by the UK Forensic Science Service following their massive successive with DNA profiling.

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Man of Lard | 9 years ago
0 likes

A taser in the saddle would be better...

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brooksby replied to Man of Lard | 9 years ago
0 likes
Man of Lard wrote:

A taser in the saddle would be better...

Like that car security system they had at the beginning of one of the original Robocop movies...

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allgearnoidea | 9 years ago
0 likes

could easily deploy a few bikes with some kind of GPS tracker for bait?

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rapid4 | 9 years ago
0 likes

How about trap bikes with some sort zip ties which pop out of the handle-bar and fasten the rider to the bike whilst a mechanical saddle continually smacks them in the gentleman's region?
I guess this is why I'm not Temporary Superintendent.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to rapid4 | 9 years ago
0 likes
rapid4 wrote:

How about trap bikes with some sort zip ties which pop out of the handle-bar and fasten the rider to the bike whilst a mechanical saddle continually smacks them in the gentleman's region? .

A gentleman would never steal a bicycle

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