Smart move as Newport leads fight against crime
Newport could become the blueprint of SmartWater towns after the product's hugely successful roll out.
More than 1,300 kits have already been given out for free in the town – and hundreds more will be given out in the coming months.
SmartWater forensically marks items, meaning anything that is stolen can be traced back to its original owners.
On Friday Newport was officially recognised for its efforts by being named as a We Don’t Buy Crime town.
And now other areas are set to benefit from the hugely successful scheme.
Newport Town Council has been giving out free kits at events over the last few months, and will continue to do so.
Councillor Tim Nelson, who spearheaded the initiative, said the response in the town had been fantastic.
"Newport is one of the biggest, if not the biggest town, to take on SmartWater," he said.
"We've made fairly good progress and SmartWater itself has observed the method that Newport volunteers have designed and they feel it is quite effective.
"Now several people at SmartWater have said it separately – the template for rolling these out will be the Newport way of doing it. The offer has also been made to other parishes for people from Newport to come and find out about the things we've learnt.
"I'm pleased for the residents of Newport. It's them that have taken the scheme up and it's them that should be proud. The more people do it, the more we're all protected."
