FCAP Addresses Construction Theft

Theft is one of the most serious problems facing the construction industry, costing builders both through the loss of materials and escalating insurance rates. Now, a company called the Florida Coalition for Asset Protection (FCAP) has a solution.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, theft costs businesses in the United States more than $1 billion a year and that cost is increasing by approximately 20 percent each year.

In spite of the scale of the problem, very few construction sites, especially small ones, have been able to do anything to significantly reduce thefts.  Power tools, hand tools, copper wire and pipe, pipe fittings, construction equipment ranging from excavators to skid-steers, from backhoes to loaders…all are going missing at record rates and, when they are stolen, less than 10 percent are ever recovered.

According to Bruce Wimmer, CPP/CHS-III, the founder of FCAP, many approaches have been used to combat construction theft. They include:

• More frequent police patrols.  But law enforcement agencies are stretched thin and often do not have the resources to patrol construction sites with any regularity.  In fact, they often do not have the resources to spend time investigating thefts unless there is a lucky arrest.  Even then they are faced with the problem of how they can prove the legal ownership of what is obviously stolen property.  Without establishing legal ownership, it is not possible to (a) prosecute the thieves, and (b) return the stolen property.
   
• Hiring private security guards, sometimes armed, to patrol their sites.  This expensive approach has stemmed some of the larger thefts but internal theft of handtools and even power tools continues unabated.
   
• The installation of expensive tracking systems on some equipment but most cannot afford it for everything.  Such equipment is not cost-effective for skid-steers, power and hand tools or copper wire.  Even with large equipment, when a site is vacant for a three-day holiday, the thieves have sometimes finished chopping equipment up for parts before the transponder is activated.
   
• Etching or painting equipment, or registering equipment with national registries.  But thieves quickly repaint equipment, file off etched identifiers and chop equipment into components that are untraceable because there are often no individual numbers on parts.  For example, there is no such thing as a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) for off-road and certainly nothing for small pieces of individual equipment.
   
• Putting equipment behind chained fences, link individual pieces together with another chain, and install closed circuit camera systems and lights.  The problem is that if there is no patrol element and no one monitoring the camera system realtime, there is no theft prevention.  Chain link fences and locks delay criminals approximately 30 seconds.  That means victims find the lights helped thieves to more effectively cut chains and locks and leave them with some great quality recorded pictures of hooded and masks thieves...but are minus their equipment.

So, with all of these challenges, what will work to reduce thefts and increase recoveries with all types of equipment? 

According to Wimmer, there is no single approach, no silver bullet.  The approaches that have already been mentioned may have their place but none of them, alone, can reduce thefts and increase recovery of all types of equipment.  A complex problem requires a complex and comprehensive approach.  But adding another expensive approach on top of an expensive approach is not the best answer.  The best approach cannot be one that is so expensive that it ends up costing more than the potential losses.

FCAP’s approach is a multi-faceted one that addresses all aspects of the problem but is also affordable.  It goes after the thieves and theft rings.  It also goes after the fences for stolen property such as salvage yards and pawn shops.  Finally, it improves recoveries. 

FCAP includes a covert marking system (one that is not obvious so thieves cannot easily obliterate the marking)  that can mark any type of equipment from a truck to a hand tool and even copper wire so the bare wire is marked even if thieves strip away the insulation.  This marking will positively identify the property as belonging to a particular company.  FCAP will enable legitimate pawn shops and salvage yards to identify property as stolen and allows law enforcement to identify the property as stolen and establish the legitimate owner for both prosecution of thieves and recovery of the stolen property.  Law enforcement and legitimate pawn shops and salvage yards must be trained on how to identify equipment that is covertly marked.

FCAP will include additional pro-active measures to neutralize thieves including analyzed intelligence to determine patterns and deploy covert surveillance teams and covert camera systems to monitor a number of different sites and summon law enforcement if thieves strike.  It also will establish “sting” operations with thieves and unscrupulous fences to help police neutralize those who are dishonest.  It might mean undercover operatives to penetrate identified theft rings, dishonest employees or unscrupulous salvage yards or pawn shops.

The program also explains the cost to neighbors who might be passing by the site or can observe it from their home or business.  It encourages members of the theft rings to turn on their comrades by offering a reward.  This means good signage, advertising and an education and awareness program for the public or even anonymous reporters.  It offers a reward for information that results in prosecutions and recoveries.  There must be a hotline that is well known and easy to use.

FCAP allows law enforcement to quickly and efficiently contact a focal point and determine if property that is recovered is, in fact, stolen and who owns the stolen property.  That means a central database that is linked to the covert marking.

While it might be obvious that this comprehensive, layered approach would be the most effective way to lessen thefts and increase recoveries, the question is how can so much be cost effective?  The answer is to join in a coalition of potential victims that share the costs.  There is no need for every individual company to establish their own awareness program, their own hotline, their own reward program, their own covert marking and tracking program.  If individual companies join together and share the cost of these common programs, the cost is lowered for individual members of the coalition and a truly comprehensive program is available to all, regardless of size.

Bruce Wimmer, CPP/CHS-III  is the Director of Business Stratagem Support Group and the Founder of the Coalition for Asset Protection.  He has nearly 35 years of experience in law enforcement and private security having lived and worked in more than a dozen countries and worked in every state in the United States  He has provided security consulting services for hundreds of clients including some of the largest companies in the world as well as dozens of small firms.  He has written a column in an international business magazine and authored a number of articles for professional journals and other publications.  He has appeared on CNBC, CNN, National Public Radio and ABC’s Discovery Channel and is a regular speaker at professesional meetings and public gatherings around the globe. He can be reached at 303-398-7089 or bewimme@attglobal.net.

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