MITIE TSM and SmartWater Technology unveil strategic crime-fighting partnership

MITIE’s Total Security Management business division has orchestrated a strategic partnership with SmartWater Technology, the company famed for its cutting-edge forensics-based security solutions.

In what is the first partnership of its kind to be realised within the security sector, the initiative will see MITIE’s Total Security Management (TSM) arm and SmartWater Technology working in unison across a number of different business areas in order to reduce clients’ risks in the data theft arena.

MITIE TSM will add SmartWater’s services and products to its mobile and void property security offerings, including the business division’s key holding and alarm response services. In addition, MITIE TSM personnel will undergo training with a view to creating an elite team of specialist forensic technicians within the mobile and technology services teams.

This addition will render MITIE TSM’s offering unique to the marketplace and, at the same time, afford additional support to both new and existing customers.

SmartWater Technology’s cutting-edge security solution will now benefit clients of MITIE TSM

SmartWater has proven to be the most powerful crime deterrent in the UK thanks to ongoing partnerships with police services. SmartWater Technology’s forensic products are deployed on a strategic basis to maximise the traceability of assets and the accountability of criminals. The use of SmartWater has been crucial in hundreds of criminal convictions, with the technology maintaining a 100% conviction rate.

Darren Gamage, managing director of technology services at MITIE TSM, said: “Part of our investment in innovation is forming high value strategic partnerships with new and effective product and service providers such as SmartWater Technology. The potential of introducing SmartWater into our customer base is huge. This is a pivotal opportunity for our key holding customers to better protect their estates and critical infrastructures.”

Phil Cleary, CEO of SmartWater Technology, added: “We believe that enhancing the skills of MITIE’s security officers such that they’re able to use SmartWater and deliver the deterrence strategy that we’ve created adds real value to the TSM business offer. This will ultimately be of benefit to MITIE’s clients. Indeed, we’re confident that our proven success will encourage even more customers to come on board.”

Banknote Watch seminar programme and exhibition draws impressive police attendance

Police officers from across the country were given the chance to get close to the latest technology used in fighting Cash-in-Transit crime at a new event organised by crime reduction partnership Banknote Watch.

Attracting over 180 delegates from across 11 police forces, the seminar and exhibition brought police together with manufacturers of the unique taggant technology used to trace stolen banknotes back to the scene of a crime. A series of presentations gave police officers up-to-the-minute information about the applications of this technology and the procedures they can follow to identify and trace stolen cash.

Banknote Watch is a crime reduction partnership aimed at raising awareness among police and the general public that ‘a stained note is probably a stolen note’. Its supporters work closely with the police, financial institutions and the private security industry to ensure that criminals are less and less likely to profit from Cash-in-Transit crime.

Hosting the event alongside West Midlands Police and ACPO Secured by Design, Banknote Watch invited several exhibitors along to enable delegates from police forces to learn of the unique taggant technology used to trace stolen notes back to the scene of a crime.

Vital supporting evidence

Hilaire O’Shea is the national co-ordinator for Banknote Watch.

“When the police find stained banknotes,” explained O’Shea, “unique taggant technology can help them quickly and easily trace such notes back to the scene of a specific crime, which can in turn help them track down vital supporting evidence to help secure a conviction.”

O’Shea continued: “Each taggant has its own unique chemical code which shows up under ultraviolet light. This can attach itself to a criminal’s clothes or skin, or the inside of a car or home in which the stolen notes are stored. These solutions can remain traceable for years.”

On that basis, O’Shea and her colleagues at Banknote Watch wanted police officers to leave this event able to recognise the various solutions and understand the procedure they can follow to secure the evidence they need.

“Banknote Watch plays an important role in bringing police together with the manufacturers of these solutions,” added O’Shea, “as well as monitoring the positive impact this technology has on crime trends and reducing the risks faced by Cash-in-Transit couriers and financial institutions. We’re delighted that the event was so well-attended, and hope to follow up with similar events across the country and so help spread the word about unique taggants as far and wide as we can.”

Commitment, dedication and support from the security sector

Welcoming delegates to the event, ACC Gareth Cann of West Midlands Police said: “I have been hugely impressed with the commitment, dedication, support and effort from the [security] industry generally. Joint working and joint effort has been to everyone’s benefit.”

Meanwhile, Sergeant Andy Gregory of West Midlands Police Force’s Crime Reduction Unit, which hosted the event at its Tally Ho Training Centre in Birmingham, commented that the day had provided an “opportunity to share information with 11 police forces from around the country and across the region.”

Geoff Knupfer of exhibiting company Smartwater Technology (and current chairman of the Asset and Property Marking Section of the British Security Industry Association) added: “It has been a great conference. We’re absolutely delighted at the turnout and the interest being shown in some of the technology that’s available for countering and combating ATM attacks and cash attacks generally.”