SmartWater partners with Vantage England and Wales to reduce GPS theft and deter rural crime

Posted to Products on Thursday, October 29, 2020 by Publication Editor Share:

RISK MANAGEMENT company The SmartWater Group has teamed up with Vantage England and Wales to help protect the latter’s agricultural customers from rural crime. As a result of the partnership, SmartWater Technology – itself a division of The SmartWater Group – will supply forensic marking liquid for Vantage’s Trimble agricultural portfolio, including advanced navigation and machine control systems designed specifically for farming use.

Each Trimble product comes with a bottle of SmartTrace liquid with a unique forensic code. All the user needs to do is apply this to their asset using the syringe provided and register the individual code on the national database.

Also provided with the SmartTrace liquid are deterrent stickers that can be applied to each of the Trimble brand products. If a stolen item should be recovered, it can then instantly be tracked back to its owners via the database which is accessible to the police.

Gary Higgins, COO of the SmartWater Technology division, informed Security Matters: “We’re delighted to be working with and supporting Vantage England and Wales on this ‘industry first’ venture. Valuable assets will now be forensically marked, making them uniquely identifiable and less attractive to thieves. With hundreds of criminal convictions to date and a 100% conviction rate in court, criminals are aware of the power of SmartWater to categorically link them to their crimes.”

Mark Griffiths, national sales manager at Vantage England and Wales, responded: “We at Vantage needed a deterrent to protect our customers’ equipment. We chose SmartWater as it’s used in many industries including banking, retail and construction. Being able to apply a product for these industries and bring it to UK agriculture made complete sense and has been well received. Our association with SmartWater will not only deter thieves, but also affords our customers confidence that we can support them throughout the process should the worst happen.”

SmartWater’s forensic solution is currently the only system that’s compliant with the Home Office Forensic Science Regulator’s Code of Practice which means it’s admissible in a Court of Law as evidence.

Rural crime in England hit an eight-year peak last year, rising by 9% on the previous 12-month period. Costing businesses around £46 million in losses, the rise was partially driven by organised gangs targeting expensive vehicles including tractors and quad bikes.

*More information is available online at www.smartwater.com