Wagga Police Inspector Peter McLay encourages use of 'home inventory apps' to link stolen goods to owners

The apps allow an individual to record specific details of property in their home like serial number, model, brand and other identifying marks, as well as images and cost estimates.

Wagga Police Inspector Peter McLay backed the technology, saying it makes "an enormous difference" to investigations when details like a serial number are available.

"A lot of stolen property ends up being sold to pawn brokers and on to other buyers, and those people are obligated to document their items and itemise everything so it can be cross matched with police systems," he said.

"So if we have something like a serial number on file we know is stolen, and a pawn broker registers an item with the same number, we get an alert to say that it has turned up and can identify sometimes who may have sold it to them."

Inspector McLay said stolen property was not often able to be returned to the original owner, and that home inventory apps would be able to improve those odds.

"A vast majority of stolen items are never reunited with the owners - you only have to go along to a police auction each month to see how much property is there that wasn't able to be returned," he said.

"I do strongly encourage anyone to make a record on an app like this to help us get people's property back to them."

Police also offer another service to help identify stolen property, according to Inspector McLay.

"We do have a free engraving service police can provide, so people could get something like a license number engraved on a valuable item to help us identify stolen goods," he said.

If you are aware of any persons engaged in criminal activities, police encourage you to report this information by contacting Wagga Police Station on 6922 2599, or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.