Property Identification

There are many steps that citizen’s can take to protect themselves from being the victim of a burglary. Thoroughly marking property, recording serial numbers, and compiling photo or video footage of their property are just a few of these ways.

The Rochester Police Department has several engravers which are available to loan out to citizens in order for them to engrave their property for identification purposes. Labeling property with an identification number that is specific to you, such as your Driver’s License number, makes it easier for law enforcement to identify recovered property.

We also recommend utilizing either a video or still image camera and conducting a walk-through of your home, ensuring that items of value are recorded. This will provide a visual record for you to give to law enforcement and your insurance company in the event a fire damages or destroys your home or you are the victim of a burglary. Frequently after such an event people are unable to recall all of the items lost, this record could become quite helpful in this instance.

When responding to burglaries or thefts, law enforcement will ask for serial and model numbers of your missing items. Armed with this information, they can enter it into a nationwide database; in the event it is recovered we can get it back to its rightful owner. Law enforcement frequently recovers property from burglars who admit taking the property, but without the proper information provided we frequently are unable to get the property back to its rightful owner.