Abstract: A method for determining a crime deterrent factor of a security system or security equipment includes determining a value for a traceability factor, a robustness factor, an analytics factor, a prosecutions factor and a publicity factor based on attributes of a particular security system or security equipment, wherein the value for each of the factors is determined by comparing the attributes of the particular security system or security equipment against a scale of predetermined attributes each of which have been assigned a value; (i) factoring the traceability value by the robustness value; (ii) factoring the analytics value by the prosecution value; (iii) combining the values obtained by steps (i) and (ii) by either addition or multiplication; and (iv) multiplying the value of step (iii) by the publicity value.

Abstract: A method of preventing and/or deterring a criminal act, comprising standardizing a coordinated approach to a coding system for the identification of stolen property; advertising or publishing the method through a coordinated media campaign to maximize the psychological impact on the criminal mind that acts as the deterrent; and (3) sustaining the deterrent effect by equipping and training police forces so as to maximize the effectiveness of identifying and gathering evidence.