Microdotting set to eradicate vehicle theft

With the new process of “microdotting”, vehicle owners will have a nearfoolproof way of putting the car/truck thieves out of business. This microdotting method of applying vehicle identity information is set to become compulsory on all new vehicles from January next year, according to Fouché Burgers, project manager of Business Against Crime SA (Bacsa). And, he told FTW, “it will refer equally to commercial freight vehicles and private passenger vehicles.” The information released to FTW by Bacsa CEO Dr Graham Wright indicated that the SA Police Service (SAPS) had announced that microdots would have to be present on all vehicles registered for the first time in SA on or after January 1, 2011; all vehicles to which the SAPS allocates a new vehicle identification number (VIN) on or after January 1, 2011; and all vehicles imported into SA on or after January 1, 2011 All that is needed now, Wright added, is for the Minister of Transport, Sibusiso Ndebele, to publish regulations in terms of the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA) to make this a requirement. At the same time, the microdots used to mark vehicles will have to comply with SA’s microdotting standard – SANS 534-1. And, Burgers told FTW, this is currently in the process of being revised in anticipation of the publication of the regulation amendments. While nothing can be said to be “guaranteed” to beat the crooks, this compulsory microdotting should at least succeed in making vehicle thieves’ lives that much more difficult. It is due to replace the traditional method of identifying a vehicle – with its vehicle identification number (VIN) and/or chassis number which are either stamped on or attached to the vehicle. But it is too easy for crooks to file off, remove or change these ID numbers. And the crime statistics in SA reveal that about 90 000 vehicles, valued at more than R9-billion, are stolen each year. Also that, of these, more than 12 000 vehicles worth over R1-bn are recovered but unidentified – and therefore destroyed each year by the SAPS. Currently, roughly 50% of stolen and hijacked vehicles are relicensed and are back on the roads under new ownership; 30% are sold for parts; and 20% are exported to neighbouring countries. But, to foil this criminal effort, the system of vehicle identification is due for big change. Using microdot technology the ID information can be sprayapplied anything up to 15 000 times on a vehicle on about 90 different spots on its essential parts and panels. That’s many thousands of tiny, less-than 1-mm×1-mm dots being applied – all invisible to the naked eye. These microdots can all carry microscopic 17-digit laser-etched VINs or personal identification numbers (PIN) to identify the vehicle – and these are only visible using a specialised scope containing an ultraviolet light source and a magnifying lens. “The 17-digit number can fit no less than four times on each dot,” according to Derek Menday, director of microdot supplier DataDot, “which is a lot of information.” The beauty of this technology is that car thieves should never be able to remove all of the dots. And proof of the value of this method is validated in a study done by Bacsa on a number of fully microdotted models. It found that the recovery rate for the microdotted models was 91%, against a rate of only 52% of nonmicrodotted models within the same class.