Students can use Dots to deter thefts

UCI bookstores will sell tiny product that police can use to electronically identify valuables.College students stepping onto to campuses each year usually bring with them a bundle of brand new electronics.

On college campuses where thefts are common, these shiny laptops and MP3 players can be eye candy for those with sticky fingers.

One local school is taking steps to do something about it.

Starting next week, a new system designed to deter thieves from taking personal property will be available in bookstores at UC Irvine.

It’s no bigger than a grain of sand and is mostly undetectable by the naked eye, and manufacturers say it might have the power to stop a thief.

This little speck is known as the Data Dot. It’s a microscopic adhesive that sticks to anything and stores identifying contact information for the item’s owner. If something is reported stolen, campus police can search for similar items and check them for the Data Dots, said Ken Walton, regional manager for MicroID Technologies, a Data Dot distributor.

“Theft of personal property ... it is one of the problems that we address probably more so than any other crime,” said Paul Henisey, UC Irvine chief of police.

The dots aren’t beacons and can’t lead police to the stolen item, but they do deter thieves from stealing in the first place, Walton said.

Although not a major problem, thefts are common on campus, Henisey said. Cellphones, MP3 players and laptop computers are the items most often reported stolen, Henisey said.

The Data Dots, which come in kits of 400 to 500, are easy to apply and don’t interfere with any electronics.

“It’s a non-mechanical, nothing-can-go-wrong-with-it anti-theft technology,” Walton said.

The Data Dots are already being sold on campus at San Diego State University and will go on sale at Cal State Fullerton next week. The kits cost less than $20.

Henisey said UC Irvine is considering using the Data Dots to recover any stolen school property as well.

For now, the company is only focused on marketing the product to four-year colleges, but it could move to community colleges in the future, Walton said.

“The students that come on to campus ... are bringing with them $2,000 to $3,000 worth of stuff that their parents paid for that they’re not going to be watching that carefully,” Walton said.

The Data Dots have also proven their worth outside the academic field.

In Maine, the Data Dots were used to track lobsters taken by poachers. When a city official in Florida was suspected of stealing quarters from parking meters, some coins marked with Data Dots were planted in the meters and later found in the official’s possession, Walton said.