Tiny dots no bigger than a grain of sand are helping New Zealand police crack vehicle crime, according to the Dominion newspaper.
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The report said insurers are looking at the microscopic dots with interest, and say they could lead to lower premiums for motorists who have them.
Data dots, just one millimetre wide, are laser-etched with the unique VIN number of a vehicle, the report said. About 10,000 of the dots are mixed with a clear glue and sprayed throughout the car, coating any parts that can be stripped and sold.
The paper said the dots are only just visible to the naked eye and show up under ultra-violet light, allowing police using a powerful magnifier to instantly identify the owner of a suspected stolen vehicle or part.
A Wellington police spokesman told the Dominion that would-be car thieves were steering clear of the new technology as it was virtually impossible to remove all the dots without destroying the car.
“This has got to be the best crime-fighting identification tool for the police that has been released,” he reportedly said.
The paper noted that Auckland’s car squad used the technology earlier this year to match recovered parts from a late-model Holden HSV to a reported stolen car and said that police believe it is the only car with data dots to have been stolen in New Zealand.
Several performance vehicles known to be at risk from theft coming into New Zealand now have the data dots as a standard feature, including Australian-made Ford FPVs, Mitsubishi Diamante Ralliarts, HSV Holdens, and all new Subarus, the Dominion said.
According to the report, the technology is an advanced version of the microdots used during World War 2 and the Cold War where secret documents, shrunk to the size of full stops, could be easily hidden by spies.
Dave Lumsden from supplier DataDot Technology, told the paper that cars could be coated in about five minutes while kits were also available to protect home appliances, boats and motorcycles.
The Dominion said the product has been used extensively in Australia, and motorists there who use the dots are offered insurance premium discounts of between 4% and 15%.
The report said most New Zealand insurers are evaluating how well the product is taken up before deciding whether to offer discounts though one company is offering a 10% premium discount for owners of pleasure boats that have the dots as a trial.
Insurance Council corporate affairs manager Terry Jordan told the Dominon the council recognised the technology as an effective tool to prevent car crime, which costs insurers about $NZ10 million a month.
“It’s also got wider ramifications than just brand new cars. The insurance industry is quite pleased with the direction,” he reportedly said.
