As we continue our look this week at auto theft in the Mother Lode… new technologies are being developed to help fight the fight.

Innovations come in the form of systems like Lojack, which require a subscription and the participation of local law enforcement, but are often effective in tracking stolen vehicles.

But a newer invention is being touted as more reliable and less expensive.

They´re called Data Dots, and they might be considered the tiniest soldiers in the war against auto theft.

“They´re one millimeter in diameter, one micron in thickness,” says Steven Campbell with Micro ID Technologies, the local distributor of Data Dots.

“And up to twelve lines of information can be microlaser-etched on it. In this case, it happens to be an actual VIN number of a BMW shipped to Australia,” Campbell adds.

Campbell says the DataDots come in a tube, much like fingernail polish, and can be applied to literally hundreds of places on a car, which isn´t something car thieves want to hear.

“And these guys doing it in volume want to sell the cars to chop shops, and if a chop shop thinks they´re buying a marked part… all it takes is for the CHP or the Police Department or Sheriff to find one dot on one part, and they´ve got a pretty solid case.”

Tomorrow, we´ll look at applications for anti-theft measures and who´s actually using the various technologies.