Interviews were also conducted with senior police officers to understand the rationale behind the interventions, as well as Police Community Support Officers and offenders to gather data on the interventions in practice, at the grass-roots level.

The aim was to help establish which interventions are, and are not, likely to reduce crime, improve public confidence, and increase victim satisfaction. The results have enabled the COPR team to identify best practice and have helped West Mercia and Warwickshire police to integrate these new interventions into their practice and policy making, thus establishing a model for other forces to follow.

“As a result of this collaborative research, I can now be more confident that the property marking interventions we rolled out have had a positive effect on reducing domestic burglaries.”

Superintendent Tom Harding, West Mercia Police

On the 25 September 2017 members of COPR launched their interim report at an event attended by representatives from West Mercia and Warwickshire Police, the Met Police, West Midlands and Crime Commissioner's Office, the College for Policing, SmartWater, members of the Society for Evidence Based Policing, as well as colleagues from Sociology, Psychology and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM). Presentations on the report's preliminary findings were given by Jackie Hodgson, Neil Stewart, Kim Wade and Natalie Kyneswood. Speakers also included Superintendent Tom Harding and Frank Pike from the College of Policing.

The final report was released in January 2019, and can be accessed here:

Public Confidence and Crime Reduction: The Impact of Forensic Property Marking.

A conference event will take place in the Autumn of 2019 to consider the findings of the research, their implications for police practice and further data being gathered on interventions in other police force areas.

View the infographic from the final report.