- Home
- Departments
- Police
- Get Involved
- Protect Your Property
Protect Your Property
The Problem
Crime, particularly property crimes (those involving stolen or damaged property), involve several factors for a "bad actor" to make the decision to commit a crime. One of those is opportunity. Opportunity can be when property is unprotected - either by surveillance or secured in a manner to make the opportunity less appealing.
It is difficult and near impossible to pinpoint who is going to commit a crime or when and where the crime is going to happen. When an item of value is stolen, it is often difficult for the police to easily return the property to its owner.
Our Solution
The Olivette Police Department has teamed up with ProtechDNA, a company that provides tools to mark your property with unique identifiers as well as inventory key aspects about your property. This is also a good tool for home insurance as much of the information that is collected by you is information an insurance company may ask for when making a claim.
How it works
You can request a special ultra-violet (UV) marking pen that comes with an instructional brochure on how to sign up for a ProtechDNA account. You can use the website version or download the ProtechDNA mobile app to make documenting your property even easier.
After you have an account, you will be issued a unique identifier which you can mark on various property with the UV pen. With your account, you can also choose to receive a FREE* DNA for Property Kit (a $40 value). The DNA for Property Kit comes with a packet with a special adhesive gel with thousands of small dots inscribed with a unique identifier, suspended in the gel. This can be swabbed on multiple items which you want to mark and inventory.
*Free DNA for Property Kit - one free per email and does not include shipping & handling of $5.99
Recovery
With the tools provided by ProtechDNA, there is a higher probability that property that is stolen may be returned to its owner. Olivette Police Officers will be outfitted with tools to identify property through a Law Enforcement portal to the ProtechDNA database using the unique identifiers found either marked with a UV pen, the DNA for Property Kit or other products made available by ProtechDNA. This information will also be included in any stolen property report to aid in recovery of your property if it is stolen and recovered in another jurisdiction.
This is another tool at our disposal to assist victims. The UV pen and ProtechDNA account are both free to residents and business owners in Olivette. To request your free UV pen and instructional brochure, contact Officer Madison Coates by phone (314-983-5238) or email mcoates@olivettemo.com Even with this additional tool, the Olivette Police Department asks that you always secure your property whether it is in a vehicle, indoors, or in a storage area.
You may find more information about ProtechDNA and its various products at the following links:
ProtechDNA
ProtechDNA.com
Informational Video (YouTube)