Police are looking to cut burglary in Streatham by getting more people to invisibly mark their property.
The Smartwater Champions project involves a team of volunteers working with Lambeth Safer Neighbourhoods Teams to visit homes along roads identified as burglary hot spots.
Residents are offered Smartwater kits to permanently and indelibly mark their valuable items.
Smartwater is not visible to the naked eye, and glows under ultra violet light, making it easy for police to detect.
Marking property with Smartwater dramatically increases the chance of stolen property being returned to the rightful owner, and the thief being successfully prosecuted.
This in turn makes the property less desirable to burglars in the first place.
The project is being supported by education minibus project Ed-bus.
Rydal Road was visited by the scheme for its launch.
Resident Laura Tomlinson, who took up the offer of a Smartwater kit, said: "This is a great initiative. I’d heard about the burglaries locally and we’ve upgraded our security as a result. I shall definitely be using it."
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