KITS designed to combat burglary will be handed out to Kidderminster residents today.

Police are joining forces with Wyre Forest’s Community Safety Partnership to give them to householders in Foley Park.

The kits, containing the forensic coding solution SmartWater and a set of stickers to advertise that SmartWater has been used, will be offered free of charge to householders in Avon Road and Spring Grove Crescent.

The new initiative, designed to combat house burglary, is being sponsored by the Community Safety Partnership (CSP).

Police and Community Support Officers along with CSP staff, neighbourhood wardens and staff from the Oldington and Foley Park Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder will be issuing the kits and explaining to residents how it can be used to mark property and deter criminals.

The liquid contained in each SmartWater property marking pack is unique and more accurate than DNA. Each batch is registered to an address, providing a forensic link between people and their property.

Street signs are also being put up advertising SmartWater’s presence to act as an added deterrent to burglars.

Wyre Forest District Inspector Paul Crowley said: “Following successes achieved elsewhere SmartWater has been identified as a good crime prevention tool and the Community Safety Partnership has selected a number of locations where we will be giving SmartWater kits out to residents to improve their security.”

CSP chairman Helen Dyke said: “SmartWater is an innovative product which can have some real benefits in our drive to make Wyre Forest an even safer place in which to live and work.

“We hope that the presence of SmartWater in the area will give people peace of mind while at the same time acting as a strong deterrent to would-be burglars.”

SmartWater comes in two forms, as a property marking pack for households or as a spray system, particularly suitable for commercial premises, which when triggered during a break-in covers thieves in an irremovable clear liquid. Both systems are being used in Wyre Forest.

All police officers and community support officers in Wyre Forest have been issued with specially adapted mini torches, which can detect whether property suspected as having been stolen has been marked with the solution.

There are also procedures in place to ensure that everyone taken into custody at Kidderminster Police Station is scanned for traces of SmartWater.

SmartWater packs are now available at a discounted rate through Neighbourhood Watch schemes in Wyre Forest.

Members requiring a pack or more information should call the neighbourhood watch co-ordinator for North Worcestershire, Melvyn Clarke on 01527 586253.

For further information about SmartWater visit www.westmercia.police.uk/crime/smartwater.htm or SmartWater’s website at www.smartwater.com.