Police disappointed over loss of dots

• A government decision to scrap the introduction of vehicle-marking technology was short sighted and ill conceived, a police expert says.
• Whole of vehicle marking (WOVM) involves spraying cars with thousands of micro dots.
• The dots can be seen with specialist equipment, are almost impossible to remove and identify and mean car parts can be traced to their owners.
• Transport Minister Steven Joyce announced that the scheme would not go ahead because it would impose extra costs on consumers at an already difficult economic time.
• Senior Constable Mark Gibson, a former motor vehicle theft expert with the Organised Crime Unit, said WOVM was the “best crime-fighting tool” police had had to deal with stolen vehicles.
• Read rest of story here

Reduction in Yamaha Bike Theft

Improved Identification Linked to a Reduction in Yamaha Bike Theft

The National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC) has released figures showing a dramatic drop in the theft of late model Yamaha motorcycles and linked the result to the company adopting DataDotDNA identification protection across its entire range two years ago.

The NMVTRC Executive Director, Ray Carroll, said the Council was especially pleased with these results as they had long been encouraging motorcycle importers to provide better, permanent identification of their vehicles to help combat theft.

“Motorcycles have defied the very positive trends we have seen in passenger car theft over the past eight years, they are very portable and easily stolen” says Carroll. “It is also very easy for thieves to alter the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and engine number in order to launder a stolen bike or they can simply be stripped of their expensive parts. DataDotDNA fixes the identity problem because the VIN is effectively applied to each bike up to 4000 times and provides the evidence needed for prosecution.”

The latest theft statistics show that there has been an 18% drop in theft of models sold in the past two years that have carried DataDotDNA compared to the models sold in the previous two years. That figure includes bikes stolen and recovered, but the theft of bikes that were stolen and never recovered has shown even better improvement, with the numbers dropping by almost 25%.

Particularly encouraging is a 23% drop in the number of stolen and unrecovered off-road Yamahas, given that dirt bikes are especially attractive to thieves.

These results are significant in that the overall number of motorcycles stolen has increased by 16% and the number not recovered has increased by 17% over the same period*.

By comparison, another leading motorcycle brand that has not fitted DataDotDNA has shown only a small improvement in theft of its new models over the same two year period, which further validates the impressive Yamaha results.

Steven Cotterell, Director/General Manager of Yamaha Motor Australia was pleased with the NMVTRC’s findings: “YMA is an innovator that is always looking to add value for our customers. Yamaha is the first firm in both our outboard and motorcycle industries to protect its products with DataDotDNA, but we doubt we’ll be the last. We believe that effective anti-theft measures will benefit the whole industry in the long run.” He said.

How DataDotDNA works
DataDotDNA is a high grade polyester microdot, around 1 millimetre in diameter, with lines of text applied using a sophisticated laser imaging process. This text includes the unique VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) or PIN (Personal Identification Number) for each vehicle and the manufacturer’s name.

Several thousand DataDotDNA are sprayed or brushed onto high value parts and the chassis/frame of each car or motorcycle using a clear adhesive containing a UV tracer that fluoresces under UV light (Black light). A final layer of security is the inclusion of a synthetic DNA, DatatraceDNA that ensures that the DataDotDNA system can never be counterfeited.

About the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council
The NMVTRC is an initiative of all Australian governments and the insurance industry to develop strategies and implement programs to reduce the level of vehicle theft in Australia. 

For further information:

Ray Carroll, NMVTRC
Tel: 03 9348 9600 – Mob 0408 379 349

Sean Goldhawk, Yamaha Motor Australia
Tel: 02 9757 0011 – Mob 0438 423844

Ben Bootle, DataDot Technology
Tel: 02 8977 4900

*In the twelve months to September 2008; 7,750 motorcycles were reported stolen in Australia constituting 11% of all stolen vehicles. 5,040 (65%) were not recovered and accounted for 25% of all unrecovered vehicles.