Police in Fort Lauderdale are now planning to use magic water instead of bullets to fight certain crimes, employing a new liquefied weapon that seems concocted straight out of a TV cop show script.
The liquid solution, called SmartWater CSI, leaves a semi-permanent splash on crooks that can be viewed only with the use of ultraviolet black lights.
Want to leave a mark on the robber who just hit your store? Squirt, squirt. Have a heirloom you want to mark as your own personal property instead of engraving your name on it? Squirt, squirt.
On Thursday, city and police officials in Fort Lauderdale unveiled its plans to begin using the SmartWater as a tool to combat property crimes within the city.
"We are going to have officers out there with the UV light, and we'll be looking for those SmartWater markings," said Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley. "It's outside-the-box thinking."
Residents in the crime-plagued neighborhood of South Middle River will be the first to see the use of the liquids. City officials on Saturday plan to hand out 500 SmartWater kits to homeowners and longtime residents so they can mark their personal belongings. If any of the residents are robbed, police will then be able to trace the stolen property back to the owners, officials said.
Company officials already placed signs all around the South Middle River neighborhood warning potential thieves that residents are using the SmartWater forensic technology.
Neighborhood activist Robert Alcock, who had has his home broken into five times, welcomed the effort.
"I think it's going to work but you have to teach the criminals that this is out there first so they won't be stealing things," Alcock said.
The SmartWater company, with its new U.S. headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, demonstrated its product on Thursday at the police station. Officials said they are now trying to sell its crime-fighting liquids to business owners, homeowners and other law enforcement agencies.
The company's founder, Phil Cleary, explained on Thursday that the liquid in each kit contains a unique combination of rare-earth minerals. The solution contains microdots with an ID number that a SmartWater technician can see though the use of microscope. The markings appear like green and yellowish splash when placed under a UV light. The markings are expected to stay on the property or a criminal for at least five years and is virtually impossible to remove.
Homeowners can buy "annual subscriptions" starting at $200. The subscription includes the liquids, registration and warning stickers to fend off intruders. Other systems are available for cars and boats.
The company also provides "sprinkler-systems" for business owners. Someone breaking in is spritzed with the liquid, making it easy for police to track them down even weeks later. In other cases, a robber may by doused on his way out, said Cleary.
"The robber runs out and he gets sprayed. If police catch him, they will be able to say that spray came from a certain shop," Cleary said.
Officials acknowledged that the use of the technology has not been tested in the U.S. legal system, but point to a successful rate of prosecutions in England where the product was first launched 15 years ago.
But police and city officials in Fort Lauderdale said they hope the SmartWater will serve mostly as a deterrent against property crimes and not so much a tool to catch and prosecute criminals.
Investigators believe that over time owners of pawn shops and scrap yards will be leery of purchasing items that have been marked with the SmartWater, cutting the demand for stolen property.
"You think that a pawn shop owner is going to buy a SmartWater-sprayed watch, a jewelry box or family heirloom?" said Mayor Jack Seiler during Thursday's presentation. "That pawn shop is going to say 'go take it somewhere else.' All of a sudden, that side of the theft market, the buyer side, will dry up."
Adderley said his department will also be using the spray during undercover sting operations, dousing the criminals as they commit crimes such as car burglaries.
City commissioners earlier this year approved spending $15,000 to buy the kits for the South Middle River residents who will be encouraged to mark their jewelry and electronics. The funds came from money the department obtained through criminal forfeitures, said Adderley.
The company plans to spend $50,000, including paying for the neighborhood signs, five UV flashlights and a UV system for police.
The company first introduced the product to the Tallahassee Police Department in 2007 as a pilot program. Police officials there this week lauded the product's theory, but said had mixed results during the trial period.
For example, the department armed a decoy car with the self-deploying liquid in hopes of catching car thieves. But the only person sprayed was a city employee trying to tow the car from the spot, said department spokesman Officer Scott Beck.
"We didn't have much luck catching anyone," Beck said. "In theory, it's a great product and it's another tool police departments could use."
Beck said his department still encourages residents to mark their belongings, regardless whether it's through the use of a liquid bottle or an old-fashioned engraver.
Copyright 2013 - Sun Sentinel
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
