Australian Property Protection Registry (APPR), established by Queensland couple, Kristine and Peter Jensen, offers a simple data matching technique to prevent the resale of stolen goods.
It combines a database for the public to register their property with a search engine, dubbed 'watchdog', for buyers and sellers in the second-hand market. The watchdog service provides a means to verify that goods have been reported "missing" by their owners.
Police have the choice to act on enquiries from the public stemming from the database. If they choose to act, APPR can provide police with information recorded by the owners of the goods.
APPR is the second site of its kind to attempt to use a Web-based database to curb theft. The National Electronics Registry Database System (NERDS), established by a Newcastle entrepreneur, promises the same and it also has ambitions to provide a national service.
Like NERDS, APPR is a commercial service but its creators hope that the database will encourage the community and second-hand dealers to change their attitude dealing with theft.
"We're aiming for community responsibility and responsibility in the industry," said APPR co-founder Kristine Jensen.
Insurance set-back
Ian Day, a spokesperson for one of the largest second-hand goods retailers in Australia, Cash Converters', said a site like APPR has the potential to do a lot of good but it would require the co-operation of every sector of the community.
Day said that the lack of industry co-operation has hampered previous attempts to establish a national stolen goods database.
"To be effective it really needs the co-operation of retailers across the board to be prepared to identify their merchandise at point of sale," Day said.
"We've spoken to insurance companies to ask them to participate and there's been a general reluctance to do this, so what we end up with is a very partial possibility to track product through the community," he added.
Support from insurance companies is a vital role as they have the opportunity to require customers to identify goods.
Day said that new-for-old policies offered by insurance companies remove consumer incentive to ensure their property is traceable once it's entered the black market.
But establishing a stolen goods register that returns goods to owners may not be in the insurance industry's best interest. Jensen said that the stolen goods register won't buy the same peace of mind as insurance but it may offer some.
"Sometimes people can't afford insurance it's one way they can have some method to get their goods back," she said.
It costs around AU$20 to register your goods with APPR, hundreds of dollars less than the majority of house and contents insurance policies.
Police already use electronic means to monitor the stolen goods market -- Cash Coverters' transactions are recorded and downloaded by police daily.
Day acknowledges that there is a public perception that stopping the trade in stolen goods involves closer monitoring of second-hand dealers. However, he said that traders already adhere to rules to deter thieves, using them as a channel, and that most goods are fenced through other channels such as classifieds and online auctions.
Without a broad electronic net that encircles these channels, he said that any database would be severely hampered. Furthermore he asks how technology could reach thieves fencing goods "out of their car-boots".
But Jensen argues that this is precisely the aim of APPR. She said that individuals and businesses can already register their goods with their local police but national services like APPR, which draw on the community, have a much greater chance of success.
"The police have a bank where they keep a record of people's property, but the police are the only ones with access to it," she said.
"[APPR] links up the whole of Australia, it's a much wider net," she added.
While APPR said that they're simply providing a link between police and community, it's clear that they're also giving the community the opportunity to conduct their own police work.
According to APPR, the police have informally given the project their blessing but that rules prevent the department endorsing it publicly.
However, Jensen said for police to maintain a similar service would be a "big headache" as their resources are already stretched.
"I know that police have heaps of goods there, that they eventually auction, that are just waiting for owners," she said. "The logistics of going through some of the stuff that they come across would be phenomenal".
ZDNet Australia invited the NSW Police Department to comment on the service but it failed to reply before going to press.
Interesting article - but has it moved past planning stage in the last 5 years? appr.com.au shows as a dead site...