Police and Asda work together to get shoppers property registered on Immobilise

Humberside Police are working in partnership with ASDA at Mount Pleasant Retail Park to get electrical items purchased in the store uploaded onto www.immobilise.com at the point of purchase.

Starting Sunday 31 August 2014, the store will give customers the opportunity to register their new electrical and valuable items recorded and uploaded onto the national property registration site for FREE.

Registration forms for www.immobilise.com accounts will be completed within the store with customers before being put online by Humberside Police volunteers. Once registered with an account the owners will then have the opportunity to add further property onto that account.

Immobilise is an online property registration system used by all UK police forces and second hand dealers to check whether property that is recovered or offered for sale they come in contact with is stolen. If so it allows them to return it to the owners and also assists in bringing offenders to justice who are in possession of the property.

The scheme is being rolled out to tackle the issue of victims not being able to provide full details of their property when it is lost or stolen. In addition it is hoped it will assist the police in bring those responsible for stealing property and handling the property to justice.

PCSO Chris Wright said:

Over the past few years police have attended community events and other engagement opportunities to encourage members of the public to register all their property on the site. This has been reasonably successful, but by registering the property at the point of purchase it is hoped that even more people will benefit being signed up to www.immobilise.com.

I am delighted that ASDA have agreed to offer this service and builds on the strong links we have the stores in this area. They were quick to get involved with Operation Sodium to assist the force in tackling retail crime and their support in hosting a wide range of crime prevention events in stores.

If the immobilise registration proves a success in ASDA I hope other retailers will follow suit and look at the possibility of offering a similar service to their customers.

A similar initiative was rolled out via Cycle shops in Hull in April and to date over 1000’s new cycles have been registered onto www.immobilise.com.

To read the source story please go to: http://www.humberside.police.uk/newsmedia/hull-police-and-asda-work-together-to-get-shoppers-property-on-immobilise 

Berkshire Police urge Public to log items on Immobilise to deter thieves

Gadget owners across West Berkshire are being encouraged by local police to register their goods online so that officers can easily track them in the event that they are stolen.

Sgt Alan Hawkett who is part of the local policing team for Bucklebury and Downlands is leading the initiative and wants people to register their equipment on to the Immobilise website. The free web-site records unique serial numbers for many items including i-pads and bicycles so that police can track them in the event that they are stolen.

Historically, if you had your television stolen you wouldn’t have the serial number

This scheme allows you to upload this information on to the Immobilise system.

If an item is stolen the public needs to notify both the police and Immobilise, which will then enable us to be able to see it as a stolen item on the site with the serial number.

Sgt Hawkett feels that use of this system will help deter thieves because;

soon it will become common knowledge that people can label their property which is then identifiable to the police.

The information stored on the website will only be accessed by officers in the event of a theft being reported, says Sgt Hawkett.

The police have already been successful in encouraging members of the public to sign up to the scheme. Since June 245 items were registered on the service at a three-hour session for members of the public, and a further 23 on July 25 at an event in Thatcham, followed by 33 sign-ups on August 2nd.

The police were also in Newbury town centre last Saturday between 6pm and 11pm informing members of the public of the scheme and Sgt Hawkett says that 36 accounts were created at the session. Banjo Cycles and Specialised Concept Store in Newbury are both involved with the project and support it.

To view the source story please go to: www.newburytoday.co.uk/2014/public-urged-to-log-items-online-to-deter-thieves