One increasingly popular method involves etching a driver's license number onto your valuables. Called Operation Identification, the practice helps the police find the rightful owner of the stolen merchandise. Many California police departments, especially those that patrol college campuses, lend out etching equipment along with decals that are designed to alert would-be burglars that valuables have been marked. The idea, police say, is that thieves have a harder time selling hot merchandise if it's marked with someone else's name and license number. The Sacramento Police Department, however, does not offer this service.
Officials say they stopped lending the equipment years ago because people failed to return it.
Instead, residents can borrow etchers from the local public library. The service is free of charge with a library card and the etchers are due back in three months. In midtown, they're worth checking out. The Back-seat Driver is listening. Let us hear from you .