Pancakes Served with a Side of Crimefighting Dots

Many Wauwatosans have gotten into the habit of starting off Mother's Day with a heaping helping of flapjacks at the annual to support Wauwatosa Crime Stoppers.

This time around, early diners can go away not only sated with syrup and sausage, but with the satisfying feeling of knowing there is an effective and affordable way to avoid theft of their valuable belongings – or at least to get them back.

Crime Stoppers will have a table set up at the ninth annual breakfast Sunday to demonstrate Data Dots, a proven way to prevent many thefts and for police to solve thefts that do occur.

So, what are Data Dots? Tiny – just 1 millimeter across – code-encrypted identifiers that can be glued inconspicuously to just about anything you own and value. By registering your marked goods on the Data Dots website, you can be assured that if a marked item stolen from you is recovered anywhere, you can get it back.

The ingenious little markers are nearly invisible to the naked eye, but police can find them easily with a special ultraviolet light. Once located, they can be read with a small 30-power lighted microscope and the code number entered in a database. If the item comes up as stolen, officers can make an arrest and get the goods back to the rightful owner.

Cindy and Gary Datka, citizen coordinators of Wauwatosa Crime Stoppers, encountered Data Dots at a Crime Stoppers conference just two weeks ago and went ga-ga over the possibilities – so much so they've rushed to set up the Mother's Day demo and made arrangements to donate two full Data Dots law enforcement kits to the Wauwatosa Police Department.

"We're working through a law-enforcement program that Data Dots has set up with Crime Stoppers National," Gary Datka said. "We have the exclusive right to sell them to residents, and we get to keep a percentage of the proceeds to support our program."

Dot kits come in a wide variety of sizes and prices, but a good starter for anyone with kids is the Bike Kit at just $20, with enough dots to mark several bicycles or anything else you want to protect.

"They call it the Bike Kit, but you can mark whatever you want," Cindy Datka said. "If you are marking a bike, you can mark the fenders, you can mark the frame, you can mark the wheels, you can mark under the seat."

That's one of the beauties of the dots. Not only any item but any part that can be removed and fenced separately can be marked.

"You can call and special order kits for cars with dots that match the VIN (vehicle identification number)," Datka said. "So, even if the theives remove the VIN number, it can still be identified."

Likewise, if your car is stolen and has the misfortune to end up going through a chop shop, any marked part can be traced.

"Lexus was having a big problem with their headlights being stolen because they're such expensive parts," Datka said. "They worked with Data Dots to install dots inside the lamps during the manufacturing process, and theft of headlights went down 92 percent."

Data Dots has worked with many such manufacturers, including Harley-Davidson, but has only lately made the foray into household and consumer goods – and only through Crime Stoppers and law enforcement agencies.

"Our business focus has always been on B-to-B – business to business," said Dave Barnes, president of Data Dot Technologies USA Inc. "We've worked not only with manufacturers but with thousands of car dealerships across the country, as well as dealers of motorcycles and boats.

"We worked with the copper industry – with the high price and bad economy, they've just had a huge problem with theft – and now they're doing automated manufacturing with Data Dots implanted in the product so that if it's stolen, it can be traced to the rightful buyer.

"We'd never really gone to the consumer with a solution, though," Barnes said. "But we have a solution that offers theft deterence and recovery.

"Setting up the program with Crime Stoppers was a natural fit and a way for us to give back. It's a national program, it's well known and non-profit, and this is a way to help them and reach the consumer," he added.

"Working with law enforcement was natural partnership, too. Police departments have been overwhelmed with a huge increase in property crime because of the economy. They have storage units piled with recovered property but have had no way to locate the proper owners," Barnes said.

Wauwatosa Crime Stoppers will be raffling off a $100 Data Dots kit on Sunday that is sufficient to mark just about everything you own, or even for a business to mark most of its goods and equipment.

The Pancakes with Mom breakfast runs from from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday at the Muellner Building in , 7300 Chestnut St. Everything on the menu is all-you-can-eat, including pancakes, Klement's sausage, fresh fruit and Starbucks coffee.

Advance tickets are available at the , 7603 W. State St., and U Turn Consignment Boutique, 6905 W. North Ave. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for children 3 and older. You may also purchase tickets at the door on Sunday.

All proceeds will benefit Wauwatosa Crime Stoppers, which pays rewards of up to $1,000 for anonymous tips that lead to the arrest of persons who have committed a crime in Wauwatosa. Crime Stoppers does not receive any public funding; all money paid out comes from cash donations and the fundraising efforts of the Crime Stoppers board.

From 2005 through 2010, Wauwatosa Crime Stoppers received 80 tips that resulted in 42 arrests and solved 30 crimes; it disbursed more than $7,000 in cash rewards.