Theft Protection Scheme Introduced in Bradford

By Daniel Lynch

A new initiative is helping people in Bradford protect their valuables.

West Yorkshire Police are in City Park today to promote the scheme which registers items like mobile phones, laptops and bicycles to a national database.

Anything with a barcode or a unique I.D. number can be scanned to the system and linked to the details of the owner. Tamper-proof adhesive barcodes can also be bought and stuck onto items that don't already have one.

P.C. Karen Harrop told BCB around 150 people have already registered with her team and they expect more to follow today.

"If something's stolen or your house is burgled, you let us know and inform the national property website. That will send a flag out to everywhere in Britain. Officers on patrol carry hand-held scanners and can scan an item during a search. The scan tells us if the item is stolen and has details of how we can return it to the owner."

The database can also alert police to items which are scanned before being reported stolen, allowing officers to retrospectively identify missing valuables.

"It's basically a tool to enable us to get people's property back to them. It's only the second day in Bradford, but this is a national scheme and thousands of people have had their property returned to them because of it."

P.C Harrop and her team will be in City Park today to help anyone register their details for free.

More details are available here.