Decoy houses catch burglars red-handed
A number of decoy capture houses are being set up across the West Midlands town of Dudley to catch crooks red-handed, thanks to state-of-the-art technology.
A number of decoy capture houses are being set up across the West Midlands town of Dudley to catch crooks red-handed, thanks to state-of-the-art technology.
Motion sensors, mini cameras and unique coded UV dye will be hidden in the decoy houses any movement inside the house will trigger sensors, alerting officers and recording the offenders actions via the covert high-resolution cameras.
The West Midlands Police operation in Dudley has the backing of Dudleys Community Safety Partnership Safe & Sound and Dudley Council, which have funded these hi-tech devices, while the councils Trading Standards team has provided equipment seized from counterfeit DVD producers for the houses.
RedWebs Advanced Molecular Taggent Technology (AMTT) forensic tagging dye, which can be seen only under UV light, is being used to mark property inside the decoy house.
The long-term operation has been set up in anticipation of a rise in burglary during July and August as previous crime trends show that there is a typical increase during the summer months.
Officers will be able to view a live camera feed on their mobile device. This allows them to check that any alerts are not false alarms, and if it is a real burglary, relay a description of those inside the property to other officers attending the scene to help with searches.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Parsons, head of Dudley CID, said; The technology used in the capture house may sound like something from a spy film, but is in fact technology we use quite often.
The tiny cameras mean that everyday household items suddenly become the eyes and ears of the police.
The equipment is portable and easy to install, meaning any home in a hotspot area can be quickly converted to capture burglars.
The cameras also work on infra-red meaning we can download crystal-clear images even at night.
By releasing this footage and showing just a snippet of our capabilities, we hope to send a clear message to criminals.
Councillor Judy Foster, Dudley Council Cabinet member responsible for community safety, said: Partnership working is incredibly important and by pooling our resources we can achieve so much more, making sure Dudley remains a safe borough to live in.
In Dudley, Safe & Sound partners including the police and Dudley Councils Trading Standards and housing teams, work tirelessly to reduce crime and operations such as Captured help maintain a year-on-year reduction in burglaries across our borough.
Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, Cabinet member for housing, libraries and adult learning, added: Operation Captured is a fantastic initiative; the equipment the council helped to fund will be fitted in properties across Dudley and will either deter burglars or help the police catch them red handed.
Taking a joint approach to reducing burglaries is vital to make sure tenants across the borough feel and remain safe in their homes.