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Salvation Army employs forensic tagging to catch clothing collection thieves

Fundraising | Niki May Young | 28 Jul 2011

The Salvation Army's trading company SATCol has become the first textile recycler in the UK to employ SmartWater technology to forensically tag donated clothing to catch collection thieves.

The security technique, devised by SmartWater Technology Ltd, uses an invisible solution which can be detected under UV light and tracked via GPS to 'tag' thieves. Announcing the open-ended contract with the specialist security company, SATCol's national recycling co-ordinator Paul Ozanne said it will be used in conjunction with a range of new security measures.

"SmartWater is an excellent way to both catch criminals and deter future thefts and we're confident it will succeed in doing both. However, it is one element of an overall anti-theft strategy we're employing, including improved locking mechanisms, increased use of CCTV and emptying banks several times per week so large amounts of donations aren't left for long periods," said Ozanne.

The SmartWater system is currently used by a number of organisations including Network Rail and BT Openreach and has aided over 1,000 criminal convictions, producing a 100 per cent conviction rate in court.

SATCol will use it in theft 'hotspots', which are being identified by the SmartWater security company. Sting operations will be carried out in these areas with the support of regional police to catch thieves in the act. Signage will also be added to any banks using the SmartWater to act as a deterrant.

Collections theft 'relatively small problem' for SATCol

Ozanne, however, advised clothing collection theft was not yet a major problem for SATCol:

"Given that we have such a large network of over 5,000 banks, theft is thankfully still a relatively small problem for us but it is undoubtdedly growing," he said.   

SATCol was unable to provide figures as to the amount lost through collection theft at time of publication.

The trading arm of the Salvation Army came under fire earlier this year when a Guardian journalist raised a complaint with the FRSB over SATCol's arrangement with Kettering Textiles, the organisation's collections partner. The newspaper ran a story claiming that while the Salvation Army had benefitted from £16.3m from charity collections over a three-year period with Kettering, the textile company had also pocketed £10m. The case was referred by the FRSB back to the Salvation Army to handle. Kettering Textiles remain SATCol's collection partners.

SATCol declined to provide figures for the cost of the contract with SmartWater Technology Ltd.

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