Suzuki supports the British Marine Federation COMPASS scheme

Source: www.suzuki-marine.co.uk

Following the British Marine Federation’s announcement of its new security initiative in partnership with Datatag ID Ltd, Suzuki is pleased to be the first outboard manufacturer to support this scheme.

Suzuki is proud to have been exclusively offering the Datatag security tagging system as a theft deterrent on its 25hp - 300hp models since September 2014 and this is an added value service that is set to continue. Combined with class-leading technology, it is yet another reason to choose a Suzuki outboard.

Theft of boats and equipment has become a major multi-million pound headache in the UK, causing misery and financial loss to thousands of marine enthusiasts.

Seeing the increase in marine theft the British Marine Federation has made positive steps in helping owners avoid it by announcing a new security initiative they have called COMPASS. COMPASS (the Combined Official Marine Property and Security System) is a technological answer to the issue of theft addressing one of the key weak areas the marine market has which criminals are exploiting - identity. Using state of the art technologies supplied by industry leading security specialists Datatag ID Ltd, the COMPASS scheme will use a raft of sophisticated and almost impossible to combat identification methods to ensure that a boat or outboard’s true identity can be determined quickly and easily either by Police or prospective owners. BY signing up to the COMPASS Scheme manufacturers will be able to offer their customer greater peace of mind.

Kevin Howells, Managing Director of Datatag said “We are very pleased to be able to provide our technologies to the BMF and we are sure that our successes with both the CESAR and Master Schemes can be replicated in the marine market with the COMPASS initiative. Theft is a blight in which we can make a big dent and we look forward to a long and successful partnership with the BMF.”

George Cheeseman, Sales & Marketing Manager for Suzuki GB’s Marine Division said, “Outboard theft is a real problem and we are please to have been the first manufacturer to be taking steps to be proactive in the prevention of theft and also helping to recover stolen units. We are only too pleased to support the COMPASS scheme and proud to be leading the way in the marine industry once again.”

Installation of Datatag’s unique layered security technologies gives any boat or outboard motor a unique “fingerprint” that can be established, by the police or the insurance industry, in a number of ways. This unique identity is virtually impossible to remove, however hard a criminal may try. The police can establish identity from the tamper evident warning label, the almost invisible UV etching, the microscopic Datadot’s or the electronic tamper proof unique and covert transponders.

Compared to other tagging systems available, the main benefit of Datatag for the police is that with the Datatag system they are already equipped with the scanners to conduct a dock or roadside check and can contact the Datatag call centre at any time of day or night, 365 days a year.

Datatag have a long history in providing class leading security marking technologies and has already been trusted with the job in both the agriculture and construction industries through the CESAR Scheme and also the motorcycle industry with the MASTER Scheme. As proof of Datatag technology’s theft deterrent you only have to look at theft rates post implementation - theft rates of JCB plant and machinery now protected by Datatag technology has fallen by 60% in the last 3 years and overall protected plant is over 4 times less likely to be stolen. In the motorcycle industry results show a similar reduction with new machines now over 5 times less likely to be stolen. In both markets the Police have seen a shift towards slightly older non-protected machines and warn owners to take steps to protect their valuables.

Datatag are no strangers to the marine world as they are the technology behind the Personal Water Craft registration scheme, which sees all new personal watercraft registered on to their secure database. This acts as not only a registration scheme but also as a highly effective deterrent to theft of these easily taken items

All Datatag systems meet the “Secured by Design” standard, the Association of Chief Police Officers preferred specification for security marking.