RIVIERA BEACH – Seeking to enhance law enforcement’s ability to identify and capture criminals and identify the outlets that purchase stolen property, the Riviera Beach Police Department is introducing SmartWater CSI, a forensic coding technology, to city business owners/operators and residents.
“The Riviera Beach Police Department will use this proven, state-of-the-art technology to further deter crime in our neighborhoods,” said Clarence D. Williams, III, Riviera Beach police chief. “SmartWater will play an important role in our initiatives to continue improving the overall quality of life in our city. We are not going to sit around and allow thieves to commit crimes and get away with it.”
SmartWater products are forensically encoded liquids that residents and businesses can apply to their property, officials said. SmartWater is also available as a spray system that can be used for covert police operations and commercial businesses.
The non-hazardous liquid reportedly is virtually impossible to remove and leaves a long-lasting identifying mark that lasts for a minimum of five years. It is only visible to the naked eye when viewed under ultraviolet black light.
Law enforcement can take the smallest micro-fragment of SmartWater from stolen property and submit it as evidence to the company’s forensic laboratories, the officials said. The SmartWater team then examines the sample to provide the registered user’s information to assist police detectives in matching a suspect to a particular crime.
As a result, thieves who target SmartWater marked-assets can face a far greater risk of successful prosecution, say city officials, who cited the technology as contributing to reduce crime statistics in the United Kingdom over the past 16 years.
“The Riviera Beach Police Department is adopting a cutting-edge strategy that will benefit its residents and businesses,” said Logan Pierson, president of SmartWater CSI. “The Fort Lauderdale Police Department introduced SmartWater just a few months ago and has seen a dramatic reduction in resident burglaries.”
Neighborhoods protected by SmartWater will display highly visible signs to warn thieves that SmartWater technology is in use, Riviera officials said.
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