Local police forces are praising a new tool that they say will reduce cases of property theft.
On Tuesday, Midland Police showed off the “TRACE” pen – a new device containing tiny adhesive discs, each about the size of a grain of sand.
The pen allows people to “mark” their valuables with those discs to give them a unique identifier that can only be seen using a special device.
Police plan to give those special devices to pawn shops and second hand stores so store employees can tell if someone is trying to sell stolen property.
Last year there were more than one million property thefts reported across Canada.
“Theft and property crime affects every community in Canada,” said Inspector Ron Wheeldon with the Midland Police. “The TRACE pen makes for quick identification and return of the property.”
Each pen can label about 50 items, and once the label has been applied it’s recorded on the Tracepen website.
“You go to the website and put a profile up of all the important things you have,” said Brian Vaile from Tracepen. “So it puts a web application to a physical item like a pen.”
The pen is being sold at Home Hardware stores across Canada for $40.
