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A POLICE campaign has been launched to protect schools from thieves plundering vital educational equipment.
Over the last week, officers have been targeting schools across South Tyneside to mark all equipment with a substance known as SmartWater.
The liquid is invisible to the naked eye but contains enough vital information to allow police to identify stolen property in an instant and cannot be removed from the equipment no matter how hard the criminals try.
Information marked with SmartWater will also reveal where the property has been stolen from, as each individual school has been issued with its own unique microscopic postcode to mark their equipment with CCTV.
Harton Technology College, in Lisle Road, South Shields, is just one of a number of schools on South Tyneside which has had equipment marked with the SmartWater which can only be detected by the use of ultra violet lighting.
Assistant headteacher Derek Bohill said: "Our school takes security seriously and already we have a number of measures in place to protect our pupils and our equipment including CCTV cameras.
"But when we were approached with the idea of marking our equipment with SmartWater, it was just one more way to ensure that our equipment stays exactly where it belongs.
"It is just another step in the right direction and I would encourage any school to take it up."
Pc Bob Tough, community beat manager for Harton, said: "Using SmartWater in schools is really
important as they regularly suffer
burglaries and with the value of
equipment held by schools rising. It's important that it is all marked with this deterrent."
The initiative to take school
security one stage further is a joint venture by Northumbria Police
and South Tyneside Council in the latest campaign to crack down on crime.
By LISA NIGHTINGALE
lisa.nightingale@northeast-press.co.uk
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Weather for South Shields
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Heavy sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
