News Item: Police Recover Over £800k in Stolen Construction Goods and Equipment
The Hire Association is one of the financial contributors to the national policing team focused on tackling equipment theft (NCATT). Working across the industry and with an extensive range of partners, our aim is to help protect members, disrupt criminality, improve standards of asset identification and to assist recovery. Plus sharing information via the HAE EHA Crime Portal about incidents of theft and fraud.
We are currently working on new advice for hire desk and delivery teams about spotting fraud risks. This is intended to complement current guidance and procedures adopted by individual businesses.
We are also working with our partner, Fantastic Media, on adding alerts and notifications to the Crime Portal. More news on this next month.
In the meantime, we are sharing this update from the NCATT team about recent activity. It demonstrates the importance of retaining asset information and identification details to assist in recovery of stolen tools and equipment.
In the last 10 days two NCATT Operations resulted in multiple strikes on locations in West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire. The two Operations led to three arrests and the recovery of £540K of stolen matting and fencing and 36 pieces of machinery valued at £350K, all of which were taken from hire companies.
It has also been announced that NCATT will receive £120K from the Home Office to help replace their operational vehicles over the coming 3 years, something which is critical and very welcome.
If you have any questions about HAE EHA’s work with the NCATT team or the Crime Portal, please contact us on crimeportal@hae.org.uk.