Microdot South Africa is working with local communities and community police forums to fight the infamous trio crimes through integrating legislation, technology and community participation. The result is a campaign promoting the use of microdots as a strong deterrent against the trio crimes, as well as employment creation for youth.
Trio crimes
'Trio crimes' refers to house robberies, vehicle hijackings and business robberies. All too often lives are lost during such criminal activities. Microdots act as a strong deterrent to these thieves and so create safer environments in which people can feel safe at home, in the office or while commuting.
A microdot is virtually invisible to the naked eye, but it contains information which proves ownership of assets by the registered owner.
Microdot technology is highly effective as an additional vehicle identifier by marking the vehicle, and its parts, in multiple places with a unique identification number that will make it easier to identify recovered vehicles from which the primary and secondary identifiers have been removed.
The technology involves the application of between 10 000 and 15 000
1 mm x 1 mm dots to various parts of the vehicle. These dots are applied using an ultraviolet adhesive and contain a microscopic 17-digit laser-etched VIN or PIN to identify the vehicle and, in turn, its owner. This number is only visible through a magnifying lens and must also be under an ultraviolet light.
In the case of new vehicles, the microdots are applied during the manufacturing process and registered with eNatis. But the technology is now also available commercially, helping home- and business owners to protect their assets from theft.
The DIY version of microdot technology is now also available and is simply applied to the goods the user wants to protect. The contents of each unit has a unique code, which the owner registers under his/her name on a national database so that if an item is stolen, it can be identified and returned. This for a once-off fee and no monthly instalments or subscriptions.
Microdots and legislation
In a ground-breaking initiative to fight the scourge of the trio crimes, the partnership of communities, business and government, has already yielded the much awaited Second-hand Goods Act, which was promulgated by parliament in April 2009. The Act aims “to regulate the business of dealers in second-hand goods and pawnbrokers, in order to combat trade in stolen goods; to promote ethical standards in the second-hand goods trade; and to provide for matters connected therewith.”
Microdot technology could go a long way in clamping down on the sale of stolen property if the act and relevant penalties are applied in cases of prosecution, as the goods could be checked and the legal owners identified.
Microdotting is set to become compulsory on all new vehicles from January 2011. The South African Police Service (SAPS) has announced that microdots will have to be present on all vehicles registered for the first time in South Africa on or after 1 January, 2011; all vehicles to which the SAPS allocates a new vehicle identification number (VIN) on or after 1 January, 2011; and all vehicles imported into South Africa on or after 1 January, 2011.
The Minister of Transport is still to publish regulations in terms of the National Road Traffic Act to make this a requirement.
The microdots used to mark vehicles will have to comply with SANS 534-1, which is South Africa’s new microdotting standard.
Traditionally, a vehicle is identified through its VIN and/or chassis number. However, given the illicit market for stolen vehicles and parts, this number is often easily filed off and changed. This allows stolen or hijacked vehicles to be relicensed under a new identity, or for the parts to be sold, or for the vehicle to be exported. Currently, roughly 50% of stolen and hijacked vehicles are relicensed in the country, ending up back on the country’s roads, 30% are sold for parts, and 20% are exported to neighbouring countries.
In South Africa, about 90 000 vehicles to the value of more than R9 billion are stolen each year. Also, more than 12 000 recovered but unidentified vehicles, worth more than R1 billion, are destroyed annually by the SAPS.
A study done by Business Against Crime South Africa on a number of fully microdotted models found that the recovery rate for the microdotted models was 91%, against a rate of only 52% of non-microdotted models within the same class.
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