More than 600 bikes, tools and gadgets in York have been marked as part of an innovative new project to deter burglars and protect property.

Since the roll-out of four new ‘dot peen’ property marking machines three weeks ago, dozens of people have attended drop-in sessions across the city to get their valuables permanently marked.

Every year, police recover hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of stolen property from the hands of criminals, but all too often there is no way of identifying its rightful owners. Being able to trace the ownership of the property not only helps people get the property back, but it can also provide evidence that is vital in securing convictions.

Dot peen marking involves using a tungsten carbide-tipped pin to indent an object with dots to create a visible, permanent unique number. The unique number will be entered onto the national Immobilise property register database, vastly increasing the chances that it will be reunited with its owner if it is lost or stolen.

The dot peen machines have been funded by North Yorkshire Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, and Safer York Partnership.

So far, officers have marked 497 garden and allotment tools, 165 cycles and 25 assorted gadgets such as cameras, mobile phones and laptops.

Drop-in sessions have been held at City of York Council’s West Offices, York District Hospital, community events across the city and the allotments at Low Moor, Bootham, Strensall, Howe Hill and Hempland Lane.

Inspector Lee Pointon, of York Police, said: “We’ve had an excellent response to the new property marking machines, and it’s fantastic that over 600 pieces of York property have already been marked with a unique number.

“Marking your property is one of the most effective ways to protect yourself from being a victim of crime. Criminals will see the permanent unique number, and know immediately that your property is too hot to handle. If the worst happened and you were targeted, marked property is far harder to sell on, and we are much more likely to be able to return it to you.

“I would encourage anyone interested in having their property security marked to attend one of our many drop-in sessions.”

For more information about dot peen property marking, visit www.northyorkshire.police.uk/whatisdotpeen.

You can also install North Yorkshire Police’s free home security web app, BurglarProof, at burglarproof.nyp.mobi. And you can download our interactive home security iBook – just search for “Securing your home” on iTunes.

To find out when your next property marking event is taking place, follow your local York police team on Twitter at @snayorkcityeast,@snayorknorth or @snayorkwest. The service is promoted on Twitter with the hashtag #whatisdotpeen