St. Louis Police Turn to Invisible Ink to Fight Crime
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Dozens of invisible-ink pens, usually the stuff of espionage or children's puzzle books, are being handed to city residents in a novel attempt to combat a spike in burglaries.
Police want people to use the pens to mark their property with either an address or phone number. Officers are getting special flashlights that read the invisible ink, so when they encounter someone with property they suspect is stolen, they have a way to prove it and trace the owner.
Police Chief Dan Isom said Wednesday that burglaries -- up 11 percent from this time last year -- are the biggest crime problem facing the department right now. Electronic devices account for 43 percent of items stolen, scrap metal 33 percent.
The special pens and flashlights, supplied by a company called Risk Reactor, cost the department a couple of dollars apiece. Each of the nine police districts will eventually have 60 pens to hand out; a third of those are available now.
The goal is to have a special flashlight in each patrol car. Right now, each of the detective bureaus and all police sergeants have one.
Erica Van Ross, a department spokeswoman, said some districts will allow citizens to borrow the pens while others will have officers going door-to-door, showing homeowners how to use them.
Police are encouraging people to write on the underside of their valuables -- where there is less risk of scrubbing off the identifier during cleaning -- and in multiple places if possible.
Van Ross said officers felt they were too often stymied by cases in which there was no way to prove property was stolen, even if it seemed obvious and was in the hands of a known criminal.
"They were frustrated, they were brainstorming, and apparently they did some research and found out about these," Van Ross said.
There are scattered examples of other police departments across the country using the pens -- in Washington for example. But use of the crime-fighting tool appears to be relatively unusual.
Tracey Hawkins, the owner of Safety and Security Source, a Kansas City company that provides education and products, said use of invisible ink is simple and effective but largely undiscovered. She sees spikes in sales when there has been a rash of burglaries but said the buyers are usually citizens who heard her advice at conferences, not law enforcement.
She has been working with police departments and consumers on crime prevention for 16 years, and the pens have been available since then.
"That's why I'm pleasantly surprised that the St. Louis Police Department is doing it," she said. "It's such a good idea."
St. Louis is in the middle of a crackdown on scrap metal thefts, another area where police hope to use the pens. While the invisible ink doesn't write on copper, it can be used on other metals. For copper, police are recommending spray paint.
Bret Robinson, president of the mid-America chapter of the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries, which represents dealers in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas, said some of his members have expressed interest in the invisible ink, independent of the police effort.
"It's fairly new, but it seems like it's working well," he said. "We would definitely be interested." Robinson said there are already scrap dealers in other parts of the country using lights to detect stolen material as it comes onto the loading dock.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
