Palm Beach County sheriff’s Detective Jeremy Campbell has spent years tracking down criminals for stealing construction equipment, and he’s learned some things that can help contractors protect their multi-million-dollar machines.
The advice comes particularly timely as we head into the holday seasons, when criminals have longer opportunities for sneaking onto jobsites and taking off with equipment.
“Holiday weekends are the worst,” Campbell told an audience at the recent Shift Conference of the Association of Equipment Management Professionals. “Because Friday night into Saturday morning, they're grabbing your equipment, and you're not realizing it's gone until Tuesday. That piece of equipment is gone.”
Response time is crucial in recovering stolen equipment. The sooner it can be reported and added into the National Crime Information Center database, the better chance it will be found. But quick action is paramount. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, only 20% of stolen equipment and tools are recovered, and losses amount to more than $1 billion a year.
One problem occurs when police show up on the jobsite after a theft and hit delays in getting the information they need.
“When I go to a scene of a piece of equipment stolen, the first thing I ask for is documentation that you own it, proof of ownership and what the serial number is, what the product number is, what attachments it has on it,” Campbell says. “Ninety-eight percent of the time, somebody has to call the office. During that time, we're twiddling our thumbs because we can’t enter it in the computer as stolen. Not having this information right off offhand is hurting everyone.”
