With crime being one of the top five priorities of Government, criminals have been warned that they will start to feel the heat of a much stronger approach to crime. Today in Kroonstad, on the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Military Base, a once-off live vehicle explosion was conducted by BACSA in conjunction with stakeholders including the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Department of Transport (DoT), the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), the Vehicle Security Association of South Africa (VESA), Nissan South Africa (Nissan SA), Microdot suppliers in South Africa (Recoveri Dot) and others did very much the same thing with explosive results.
A SAPS boarded vehicle was loaded by the bomb disposal unit with 20 kg of high explosives and detonated at 7800 metres per second with a resultant heat of 3,000 degrees Celsius. The purpose of this test in front of a number of select media, business representatives and service providers was to prove the resilience of the microdot technology as a form of durable whole-vehicle marking and vehicle identification.
Fouche Burgers, BACSA Project Manager within the Violent Organised Crime (VOC) workgroup with a focus on vehicle crimes and vehicle robberies in particular, explains the benefits of the technology as an effective component within a comprehensive strategy to reduce the unacceptably high level of vehicle theft and hijacking in the country.
“Traditionally, a vehicle is identified through its Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and/or chassis number, however, given the illicit market for stolen vehicle and parts, the original number can easily be filed off and changed. This allows stolen or hijacked vehicles to be re-licensed under a new identity, or the parts to be sold illicitly or the vehicle to be exported. Currently 50% of stolen or hijacked vehicles are re-licensed in the country and back on our roads, 30% are chopped up and sold for parts and 20% are exported to neighbouring countries. Of great concern is that more than 12,000 recovered but unidentified vehicles, worth more than R1 billion, are annually destroyed by the SAPS. These vehicles could have been returned to the legal owners”, says Fouche.
“At BACSA, we strongly believe that the widespread application of the Microdot technology on vehicles can assist to change this picture significantly, recover stolen vehicle and parts and close down the market for these. Today’s test has served to prove the resilience of the technology through extreme conditions”, says Fouche.
Louise Taljaard, General Manager of the Vehicle Security Association of South Africa (VESA), says “the future of preventing vehicle crime through a much fuller take-up of this technology is promising and VESA looks forward with its members and industry participation to preventing and combating vehicle crimes in the country.
” Mike Witfield, Managing Director of Nissan South Africa, says that “Nissan SA is committed to fighting crime and we have demonstrated this through the application of the microdot technology in all our vehicles.”
“The technology is reliant on the fitment or application of approximately 10, 000 small, polyester or metal dots which are laser-etched at a microscopic level to contain multiple lines of the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) (for new vehicles) or a Personal Identification Number (PIN) (for used vehicles). The dots are applied to at least 88 different positions on the vehicle for full coverage. This form of whole-vehicle marking assists to infuse every part of the car with its own unique identity or DNA. As the dots cannot be seen or read with the naked eye, an appropriate low-tech magnifier can be used by police performing an investigation, officials at the licensing department, parts dealers and others to reveal the dots and confirm the information etched into the dots.”
“What today’s test has confirmed is that once a vehicle is wholly marked with the microdot technology, the unique identity of the vehicle is practically unchangeable. Criminals and organised crime syndicates wanting to change the identity of a microdotted stolen or hijacked vehicle would literally have to go to such extremes in the attempt to change the identity of that vehicle that they would in the process destroy the value of the vehicle and all its parts. Without this profit, the very motive for the crime is disrupted and illicit markets closed down. As an indelible fingerprint for a vehicle and all its parts, the microdotting of vehicles helps to close down the loopholes which allowed criminals and syndicates previously to conceal a vehicle’s identity.”
“Given that legal compliance becomes very much the only option for a microdotted vehicle, a broader take-up of the technology by manufacturers, consumers, insurance companies and others has the potential to make the country’s licensing systems, vehicle crime strategy and investigations and handling of road accidents that more robust. We hope that today’s test has helped to draw attention to the potential of this technology in enabling citizens and businesses to keep one step ahead of criminals”, says Fouche. An investigations officer from the SAPS dealing with vehicle crimes has had the following to say with regard to the microdotting technology, “The criminals have to remove 10,000 dots, but I only have to find one, so to us this technology is a major breakthrough.”
The following stakeholders have assisted and contributed towards proving the resilience of the microdot technology today:
• SANDF – Kroonstad Military Base and special thanks to Major Venter
• SAPS and the bomb disposal unit, with special thanks to Captain Neethling and the SAPS for the explosives themselves
BACSA extends it thanks to all of the above, without whom this exclusive test would not have been possible
For more information visit www.recoveri.net
Crime Prevention
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