British Security Initiative Targets Marine Theft

The British Marine Federation has partnered with security experts Datatag to help owners avoid theft of marine outboards.

At the CWM FX London Boat Show today, the two organizations announced a new security initiative called COMPASS; the Combined Official Marine Property and Security System as a technological answer to the issue of theft addressing one of the key weak areas the marine market has which criminals are exploiting – identity.

Using technologies supplied by security specialists Datatag ID Ltd, the COMPASS scheme will use a raft of sophisticated and almost impossible to combat identification methods to ensure that an outboard’s true identity can be determined quickly and easily either by police or prospective owners.  By signing up to the COMPASS Scheme manufacturers will be able to offer their customer greater peace of mind.

Kevin Howells, Managing Director of Datatag said, “We are very pleased to be able to provide our technologies to the BMF and we are sure that our successes with both the CESAR and Master Schemes can be replicated in the marine market with the COMPASS initiative.  Theft is a blight in which we can make a big dent and we look forward to a long and successful partnership with the BMF.”

Howard Pridding, Chief Executive of the British Marine Federation commented, “Theft in any market is always difficult, not only for customers but also the market itself.  By launching COMPASS we hope to raise awareness of the issues of theft and promote the positive steps we are taking to combat it. We are confident that using Datatag’s unique layered technological approach will result in a significant drop in marine theft.”

Installation of Datatag’s unique layered security technologies gives any outboard motor a unique “fingerprint” that can be established, by the police or the insurance industry, in a number of ways. This unique identity is virtually impossible to remove, however hard a criminal may try. The police can establish identity from the tamper evident warning label, the almost invisible UV etching, the microscopic Datadot’s or the electronic tamper proof unique and covert transponders.

Simon Lofting, certified marine investigator and Chairman of the International Association of Marine Investigators (IAMI) said “We deal with marine theft on a daily basis and identifying stolen property is one of the hardest elements.  This proactive stance by the BMF in using Datatag’s unique technologies to protect their industry will make our job significantly easier and the criminals one much much harder.”

Compared to other tagging systems available, the main benefit of Datatag for the police is that with the Datatag system they are already equipped with the scanners to conduct a dock or roadside check and can contact the Datatag call centre at any time of day or night, 365 days a year.