Marking Your Property | Identify stolen property

If you are a victim of theft the chances of recovering your property increases if your stolen property is marked. Doing so will help police and pawn shop owners identify stolen property and return it to the rightful owner. Furthermore, the marking itself might prevent the item from being taken in the first place. That’s because burglars do not like property that is marked, which makes it hard to sell.

          Most pawn shops and the barter world, where thieves go to sell stolen goods, consider marked items to be “tarnished goods.”  Here is why – if a pawn shop or barter shop is audited by law enforcement, they are not to have marked goods for sale that are not also accompanied with legal papers indicating that they received the items from the actual owner. If shop operators do not follow this law they are risking their business. Because of this, many reputable barter or pawn shop dealers will not accept any goods that are marked unless the seller can prove that he is the rightful owner. Burglars know this as well, so marked property may be ignored during a theft.

          Television sets, surround sound systems, blue-ray DVD players, computers, iPods, and other expensive electronics should be marked. So should high priced jewelry and other high dollar items. There are many ways to mark valuables for identification purposes. Guardian Alarms has outlined some of the recommendations. They are:
How to mark your valuables:

• Use your driver’s license number and state to mark your valuables. Older security publications might have suggested using a Social Security Number; however with identity theft even more prevalent than burglary, it is never a good idea to publicize your Social Security Number.
• You can use an engraving tool or special pen to mark your driver’s license number on any expensive electronic equipment. Doing so can not only assist in the item being returned, but can actually discourage theft, as previously mentioned?  Again, marked property is difficult to sell or pawn.

• Another way to mark your property is by using a ultra-violet (UV) marker pen. If you do this, you will not be able to see the marking that you make unless you shine a UV light over it. You can get a pen from most hardware stores and they are not too expensive.  Also keep in mind, your local police department might provide a marker pen for you free of charge.

• If you have fine jewelry that is too small to engrave personally, take it back to the jewelry store and the jeweler will either tell you what serial number is already engraved on it (most high end diamonds have a number engraved on them, but few consumers know of it) or can engrave your driver’s license on it.

          Remember, you should always have some type of insurance covering your more expensive items. It is recommended that you have a complete home inventory of your personal belongings including serial numbers, descriptions, and video or photographs of each item of value.