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National Campaign to Reduce War Memorial Theft

A campaign to locate, log and protect thousands of war memorials across the UK, using cutting edge forensic technology, is being launched today. The nation's estimated 100,000 war memorials are under increasing threat from thieves and vandals attempting to steal metal from monuments. Despite the metal having relatively little monetary value it is estimated that on average one war memorial a week is being targeted by thieves looking to illegally remove bronze, copper or other metals to sell on for scrap.

In Memoriam 2014 is a partnership between War Memorials Trust and the SmartWater Foundation. The partnership, which is working towards marking the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War in 2014, seeks to offer greater protection to war memorials across the UK. It aims to prevent anymore communities witnessing the desecration of their memorials.

To combat the threat of theft each monument will be forensically marked with SmartWater, assigning them with a state-of-the-art forensic signature that can only be seen under UV light. Once applied SmartWater is virtually impossible to remove and can withstand burning, sand blasting and long term exposure to UV. Furthermore if a thief attempts to remove SmartWater they risk inadvertently spreading forensic evidence onto their clothes and any tools they are using. This can be used by Police to link them directly to the crime scene. Visit: www.warmemorials.org