Plant Theft

Detective Inspector Will Young has 20 years service with the Metropolitan Police and moved from the Serious and Organised crime Command to head the unit that deals with widespread and organised theft of vehicles and plant machinery. He describes his present job as a collection of working with industry to make it harder for vehicles and plant to be stolen, prosecuting those that do steal such machinery and actively recovering that which has gone astray.

What is the extent of the problem, can you quantify it in any way?

Will Young (WY) Our research indicates that, in the last five months, plant to the value of £1 million has been stolen every ten days and we believe that to be a conservative estimate. We describe the stolen items as ‘plant’ but the range is wide in size and use, from small vehicles to large cranes and excavators.

But whenever I see industrial plant on the move it is usually on a low loader going along a motorway at 20 mph. How can anybody steal something like that?

WY Before I started this job I would have said the same thing but the truth is the security involved with plant and machinery on many sites is not as good as it could be. Another problem is that the industry does not have unique key security for much of its machinery, so I can use a key from one vehicle to start equipment on other sites.This leaves the only protection for the site machinery to be that on the perimeter of the site, be it human or otherwise. As you can imagine, it is difficult to protect on remote rural locations.

Are these thefts co-ordinated by organised  groups.What I’m really asking is plant nicked to order?

WY I believe it is; certainly ‘Criminal Networks’ exist that steal systematically and members do this for a living because there is a demand both at home and abroad. I  could not give you an accurate figure but I think that a large amount of the stolen machinery goes to markets abroad. It’s hard to imagine how these people get away with it, after all it’s not an item one can hide in a pocket or in the bottom of a suitcase.

Why can’t police patrols spot these large items on the move?

WY Intelligence is the crux of the matter. If we can understand how these people work then we can target them and make an arrest. However, when we do make an arrest there seems to be another group ready to take their place because the demand is strong and lucrative. We know there are people out there who will offer to pay for a piece of equipment to be moved and delivered elsewhere.

So, as well as targeting those who are stealing plant and those that are organising the thefts, our best strategy is to improve plant and site security. So how can contractors go about making their sites more secure?

WY First of all contractors should know what plant and materials they have on site and be recorded in a log including as many identifying details as possible. Vehicles and plant always have a chassis or a makers' number stamped on them somewhere. A call to the manufacturer will elicit where identifying marks and numbers can be found.That would be a good first step. I know that an audit can be difficult to maintain, especially on a busy site but someone needs to have responsibility for this. Next would be a system to secure
keys, that is booking them out in the log and in again at the end of the working day and then keeping them somewhere safely. The actual site area should have some security during the quiet hours and, again, I know that this is sometimes difficult due to the remoteness of some locations, and costly. Lastly, and as a matter of routine, we are not going to make much progress if management and staff do not increase their awareness and take elementary precautions.

But I thought building sites were more secure than they were because of Health and Safety regulations; there is usually one entrance where people are checked out for boots, hard hat and yellow jacket. Would that not deter unofficial entry?

WY H&S constraints deter to some extent but some of these  sites are huge and movements complex and difficult to track. Elementary precautions and increasing awareness is a start but that is little enough to combat the scale of theft as you describe it.

…so what else can  be done?

WY Of course we have moved on from there and are currently working with the industry to try and get a Thatcham security assessment system for plant machinery introduced. With  this, every piece of equipment  could be given a Thatcham rating from 1- to 5-star depending on what security it has fitted. 1-star would
require the fitting of CESAR, a simple and effective method of machine identification and registration. To increase the machine’s rating from thereon you would need increased security, such as a unique key right through to the fitting of a tracking system. The insurance industry wants to see a more secure industry and I’m sure they will reward this increased security with reduced premiums or other incentives. The Stolen Vehicle Unit’s Plant Unit has been able to concentrate on plant related crime through donations by five insurance companies and by the Construction Equipment Association, who operate CESAR. After much good work with industry by my Industry Liaison Officer, DC Ian Elliott, we were able to instigate the Plant Unit in October 2008; it consists of two detective constables, a civilian researcher and is managed by a Metropolitan Police Detective
Sergeant. So far, they have recovered nearly £1 million worth of stolen plant.

….and in the long term?

WY In the long term I want to see the successful introduction of the Thatcham 5-star security rating system and  hereby dramatically reduce plant theft. I want to see, within the next five years, plant machinery being as secure and hard to steal as modern day cars.