'Chemical fingerprints' next step in asset security.

Sudbury-based Digicorp Securities Inc. is using digital insurance documentation and forensic theft prevention techniques to help protect business owners in Northern Ontario from theft and property damage.

Established three months ago, Digicorp documents personal and business property, including electronic equipment, furniture and jewelry, with the use of digital cameras.

"We can get as detailed as a customer would like -- from general pictures of a room to high detailed photographs of serial numbers and model types," says Miklos Tihanyi, president and chief executive officer of Digicorp.

Clients are provided with a CD containing records of all their labelled items. For a small one-time fee, customers can leave a secured copy of the disc with Digicorp. Digicorp also offers a system of forensic identification and labelling for residential and business owners.

"Forensic tracer solutions" are an anti-theft deterrent device created by Probe FX, a security company based in the United Kingdom. A non-toxic tracer chemical can be applied to any item of value. Every piece of property labelled with the chemical has its own "corporate fingerprint" or identifying marker, which makes it unique.

Digicorp then records information, including model type, serial number, owner, address and the individual chemical fingerprints of each item into its own database.

Through the use of ultraviolet light, stolen items that have been treated with the chemical can be identified by police. A sample of the chemical is removed from the stolen item, analyzed at a lab, and traced back to the property owner.

"Security systems are a good deterrent. But criminals can be caught and still get away in the end because the owner often times cannot prove they own the property," Tihanyi says, noting that many criminals remove all identifying markers. from stolen items. "This (forensic labelling) defeats that possibility.".

Tihanyi says the chemical used in forensic labelling cannot be removed without "severely damaging the item" to the point where it is of little or no use.

Mike Johnson is an insurance agent with the Co-operators in North Bay. He says insurance companies do not require any formal documentation of personal or business items when acquiring coverage. However, he says in cases of theft or fire, clients are often asked to provide documentation related to stolen or destroyed items, including receipts of purchase, model types and serial numbers.

Johnson says he strongly recommends video referencing for both residential and business owners. He says often times people underestimate the value of the items they own until it is too late.

To avoid receiving lesser value in insurance claims because of poor documentation, he recommends that owners conduct regular asset inventories.