Construction Site Thefts

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Construction Site Theft Prevention
Presented by Sgt. Scott Hilden Canton Police
Department
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StatisticsCanton Construction Larcenies
February 2005 began We Nail Thieves Program
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When are these crimes occurring?

• Daytime regular work hours
• After hours and weekends
• Middle of the night

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Crime Prevention

• Is the anticipation, recognition, and appraisal
  of a crime risk, and the initiation of some
  action to remove or reduce it.

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What is needed to commit a crime?

• Criminal, with the motivation to steal
• Victim
• Opportunity

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How are we going to reduce the incidence of
thefts at your sites?

• Risk vs Reward, increase the chance of being
  caught
• Reduce the opportunity for thefts
• Create an environment that makes it difficult to
  steal

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Criminal Opportunity

• It is controllable
• Potential victims can reduce their vulnerability
  to criminal attack by taking proper security
  precautions
• Criminal opportunity is often impulsive, the
  thief stumbles upon an opportunity because of our
  carelessness

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What types of items are stolen?

• Heavy equipment-backhoes, loaders etc
• Utility trailers
• Lumber
• Mortar mixers
• Power tools
• Appliances/furnishings
• Copper
• The Kitchen Sink!!

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Defensible Space

• In 1772 Oscar Newman, an architect and urban
  planner published a book called Defensible
  Space
• His concept is still used today and has defined
  this concept as follows
• the range of mechanisms real and symbolic
  barriers, strongly defined areas of influence,
  and improved opportunities for surveillance
  that combined to being an environment under the
  control of its residents.

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What does this mean? Defensible Space

• You create an environment that psychologically
  causes those within to feel the sense of control
  by its residents or managers.
• Prison environment
• Office of a CEO
• Chief of Police
• Court room

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Creating a Defensible Space

• Give work rules to all employees and have them
  prominently displayed in several areas
• Post signs that indicate All thefts will be
  prosecuted
• Post signs indicating Authorized Personnel Only
  at job site entrances

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Defensible Space continued.

• Offer a reward incentive program for workers who
  report thefts
• Encourage anonymous tips
• Crime Stoppers 1-800-SPEAK UP
• Conduct random unannounced work site visits
• You have now set the tone

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Site Security

• Total Site Security is often difficult to
  achieve, however there are many simple measures
  that can be taken that will improve or enhance
  current site security.

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Site Security continued

• If the thief sees that the site is well secured,
  he is likely to conclude that the equipment is
  also well secured and will move on to a softer
  target. This concept is called Crime
  Displacement

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Crime Displacement

• We cannot stop a determined criminal from
  committing a crime. What we can do is make it
  more difficult. This may cause them to go
  somewhere else to find an easier target.

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Site Security

• Establishing a perimeter around a work site can
  be accomplished several ways
• Natural barriers
• Bushes
• Trees
• Landscape rocks
• Ponds, lakes etc

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Site Security continued

• Man made barriers
• Fences
• Gates
• Electronic monitoring equipment
• Security patrols
• Contact neighbors around the site enlist their
  support in watching for suspicious activities

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Fencing

• First Line of Defense
• Use see-through material, such as chain link,
  this allows visibility inside the fence
• Keep fenced areas free of bushes and debris
• Ideally 7-8ft tall
• Limit access to keys for fenced areas
• Conduct routine fence inspections, repair

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How much security is up to you!
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Other Work Barriers

• In many cases it will not be possible or cost
  effective to fence in a worksite. There are
  other options such as barriers and ditches that
  can have a significant effect

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Barriers

• Low walls, ditches, dirt berms, or anything else
  that would prevent a unit from being driven or
  towed off the worksite
• Keep these walls or berms no taller than 3 ft so
  police can see into the site from their patrol car

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Gates

• Your only as strong as your weakest point
• Gates should be of heavy construction, hinge pins
  spot welded to prevent easy removal
• Locking hardware should be case hardened chain
  and a high security padlock permanently attached
  to the fence
• If possible, have only one entrance/exit

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Gates continued

• Secure all work entrances/exits with a gate and
  lock, dont leave the lock open on the gate
• Limit the number of access points to the site

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Warning Signs

• Crime Stoppers We Nail Thieves
• Post Warning signs No Trespassing around the
  perimeter of your worksite
• Enhance signs by adding that Product
  Identification Numbers are recorded for all
  equipment

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Prominently display signs around your site
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Lighting

• Lighting is one of the most effective low cost
  deterrents that is available
• Lights should be placed along the perimeter of
  the property and directed toward the worksite
• Lights should be of suitable quality and the
  power source protected
• Lights should be well maintained and checked
  regularly

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Types of Light Controls

• Motion Sensitive
• Photo-Electric Control- this light activates
  automatically at dusk
• Timers
• Event driven control- these lights can be set to
  activate upon detection of an intruder to
  illuminate the area

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Type of Light Sources

• Incandescent- used in homes today
• Quartz- improved incandescent
• Halogen- used indoor and out very bright light
  with good color rendition
• Florescent- type of mercury vapor, not good
  outdoors
• Mercury Vapor- used widely outdoors, poor color
  rendition, startup is not immediate
• Metal Halide- excellent color rendition with pure
  white illumination, startup is not immediate

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Light Source continued---

• High Pressure Sodium- very efficient light used
  outdoors color rendition is fair, must have time
  to start
• Low Pressure Sodium- most efficient light, poor
  color rendition, takes a long time to reach full
  illumination

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Good Lighting
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Good Lighting
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Where would you park?
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Bad/Poor Lighting
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Where would you commit your crime?
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Tools and Equipment

• Remove tools and equipment from the job site at
  the end of each day if feasible
• Consider storing tools and equipment in a high
  traffic / high visibility area.
• Use areas with natural sight surveillance
• Store them in a secure locked heavy duty cargo
  container
• Keep area illuminated at night

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Tools and Equipment continued

• Record serial or product identification numbers
• Engrave hand tools and other valuables with your
  drivers license number
• This allows us to track down the owner

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Trailer/Office

• Keep a record of the serial numbers on all tools,
  computers, fax machines, radios, cell phones, and
  other equipment
• Secure computers to the floor or sides of desks
  with strips of metal and bolts or screws
• Backup computer data frequently and store it off
  site
• Have the trailer or office alarmed
• Silent
• Audible

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Securing your computers
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Key Control

• Create a policy
• Require that keys be removed from equipment when
  not in use
• Keep a key tracking log which requires keys to be
  signed out/in
• Restrict who has access to keys, equipment and
  the worksite
• Keep keys secured in a safe, or other lockable
  area when not in use

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4 Ds of Locks

• Deter
• Delay
• Detect
• Deny

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Locks

• If using a padlock, they should be high
  security casehardened or laminated steel, and
  with tamper proof guards
• Combination locks offer lower security due to the
  possibility for sharing the combination
• Use padlocks that must be re-locked before the
  key can be removed

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Hardened locks
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Locks continued

• Case-hardened chains used with padlocks should be
  thick enough to resist torch, saws and bolt
  cutters
• Consider cable or wire rope instead of chain as
  it is harder to cut and requires special tools
• Consider blind or enclosed locking devices on
  equipment doors and perimeter gates

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Shielded Shackle Locks
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Hidden Shackle Lock (Hockey puck)
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Are you relying on this for security?
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Additional Crime Prevention Strategies

• Delay installation of appliances to as late as
  possible in the construction phase
• Conduct background investigations on employees
• Encourage all employees to challenge strangers
  who enter the job site
• All personnel should be trained to say may I
  help you?

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May I Help you?
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Heavy Equipment Theft

• Thieves steal an estimated 1,000,000,000
  (billion) in heavy equipment annually

• Recovery rate is as low as 10

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What makes it so difficult to investigate Heavy
Equipment theft?

• Difficult gaining legal or physical access to
  equipment
• Varied locations of PIN numbers
• Confusion between PIN and other ID numbers on
  equipment
• No standard numbering formats
• Absence or inaccuracy of theft reports
• Equipment is not titled so there is limited PIN
  information

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Vehicle Security

• However good the perimeter security, a thief may
  still gain access to the equipment and equipment
  may move from more to less secure worksites so it
  is important for vehicle security to be as good
  as possible

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Vehicle Security continued

• Install theft prevention devices to disable fuel,
  hydraulic, and or electrical systems
• Consider installing a recovery system (Lojack)
• Portable equipment can be immobilized by removing
  tires if not being used regularly
• Consider hitch protection, disable or remove the
  hitch
• Dont leave equipment on a trailer

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Inventory Control

• Equipment marking- use etching tools and
  duplicate the units PIN number in at least two
  places.
• Customize the unit- unique paint colors, paint
  the roof a different color etc it is more likely
  to be noticed and less likely to be stolen
• Record any and all numbers on the unit- PIN,
  serial, chassis, model, and manufacturer and keep
  them in an accessible location if needed
• Use decals and signs telling the potential thief
  what has been done

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Anchor and Immobilize

• Use a chain or cable to secure equipment
• Remove wires or batteries on equipment left on
  site
• Lower buckets and blades to immobilize large
  equipment
• Protect smaller items by positioning larger items
  in a way to make them inaccessible

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National Equipment Register (NER)

• Consider Registering all your heavy construction
  equipment
• National database accessible to Law Enforcement
• Can check suspicious equipment in their theft
  database

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How to get started

• Contact your local police department before
  breaking ground
• Designate a management level employee as a site
  crime prevention coordinator
• Implement and maintain these crime prevention
  strategies
• Post your sites with the We Nail Thieves
  posters
• Prosecute all thefts

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Getting some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs

• The End