It's burglar catnip: a large, unoccupied home late at night, with iPads and laptops strewn temptingly around.
Sure enough, one man did break in—exactly as the police had planned. Arrested, he protested his innocence, at least until law enforcement shined a black light in his direction and he glowed like a neon-yellow beacon. The bait he’d lifted was boobytrapped. Motion-activated sensors, triggered as he entered, also sprayed an invisible, UV-detectable mist onto his clothes and skin that was water resistant enough to survive for weeks. It contained markers unique to the location, which allowed police forensics to place him decisively at the scene (the electronic gadgets he’d taken were also dabbed with the same solution). His subsequent conviction was seamless.
This was no episode of CSI, though: The sting took place in the British city of Nottingham, one of several trials undertaken as proof of concept by U.K.-based security firm, Smartwater.
“Criminals hate traceability, or anything that’s trackable,” explained ex-cop and company co-founder Phil Cleary from his office in the U.K. His scientist brother developed Smartwater's proprietary technology, like ink packets in bank heists, but invisible. “We’ve had them attack our solution with bleach or acid, and they still can’t remove it.”
Less unwieldy and less obvious than microchips, Smartwater can be daubed on almost anything, from rings to golf clubs. Each client’s solution contains its own DNA-like synthetic code, which can then prove ownership on any single recovered item; Smartwater stores up to 10 registered items in its central database for $5 a month. Buttress this property-protecting approach with a motion-triggered spritzing system—perhaps when a stable gate opens unexpectedly or a garage door—from around $2,000 per installation.
Don’t Even Try It
The firm’s main goal is to offer a deterrent: Burglars are likely to avoid homes that display Smartwater signs, indicating the traceability of the goods within. Cleary works closely with local police forces on detection technology, supplying whatever’s needed—such as those black-light detectors—to test for its markers. So far, Cleary claimed, 1.5 million homes in the U.K. are Smartwater-equipped, including almost 500,000 in London; on average, he said, in areas where its signs are prominently displayed, burglary drops by 36 percent.
The next focus for his company is the U.S.: pilot schemes in 40 cities across South Florida, including Fort Lauderdale, proved so successful that on Nov. 16, Cleary announced a major partnership with Washington’s police force that aims to protect 10,000 homes over the next 12 months. A rival company, SelectaDNA, offering a similar service has secured ongoing trials with the Los Angeles Police Department; a six-month run in Knoxville, Tenn. reduced crime in the area by 70 percent, according to U.S. distributor Kristian Brandt.
The Future of Personal Security
Such DNA-driven crime fighting might seem futuristic, but it forms part of a slew of new high-tech security tools that allow the wealthy to stealthily safeguard their homes, possessions, and persons. Take Smoke Cloak, a device not much larger than an old fashioned videocassette recorder. Modeled after theatrical smoke machines, it uses a built-in heating element to create soup-thick fog whenever a motion sensor is triggered. The goal: simultaneously slow down any intruder, allowing the police time to arrive and arrest one, or enabling homeowner and family to safely reach a panic room while spraying the intruder with traceable elements.
Two-year old carmaker Ares, with showrooms in Dubai, Cannes, London, L.A., and Munich, is run by Lotus and Ferrari alum Dany Bahar. His firm can custom-build vehicles sleek enough to impress discerning petrol-heads while being as bulletproof as a Humvee; costs range up to $1.2 million per vehicle. The infrared-sensing cameras produced by FLIR are so sensitive they can read the heat signatures of humans—far brighter than animals—up to nine miles away.
Many of these new services are being developed in the U.K., largely thanks to London’s role as the residential hub for ultra-high-net-worth individuals from across the world, not to mention its ingrained surveillance culture.