RCMP preach awareness for combating cargo theft

BANFF, Alta. — Cargo theft from commercial trucks is a billion dollar business in North America; and that’s just the incidents that get reported.

While law enforcement officers across North America are trying to combat the problem, Sgt. Rob Ruiters of the RCMP, openly admits they cannot do it alone.

“We need partnerships with the industry to succeed,” says Ruiters, during the recent Alberta Motor Transport Association annual management conference. “We’re already doing it, but we need it to continue and for carriers to monitor and police themselves.”

According to a study from Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Mass., $15 to $30 billion of cargo was stolen in 2006. When you apply law enforcement’s rule of thumb that property and cargo thefts are only reported 40 percent of the time, the amount could be inflated to as much as $75 billion.

For law enforcement, the solution is not as easy as putting more officers on the street — mainly because they face the same recruiting issues as the trucking industry. Instead, a program was launched to help them work smarter, not harder.

The National Pipeline-Convoy-Program was launched in Canada in 1993, which aims to improve conversational and awareness skills of officers to detect possible criminals during routine traffic stops.

“We teach some commonalities of what a traveling criminal would display,” notes Ruiters, the program coordinator in Canada. “Through criminality indicators we raise awareness in routine traffic stops and no two are the same.”

Keep an eye out when trucking in Brampton, Ruiters says

Part of the uniqueness of the program is it’s not run by one police agencies and is endorsed by all law enforcement in North America.

GETTING COMMERCIAL

The Pipeline portion of the program deals with commonalities for passenger vehicles and the Convoy aspect deals with commonalities for commercial vehicles.

Dealing with the trucking industry has been a problem for law enforcement in the past, because of a lack of understanding. By building an understanding among law enforcement what a typical legal truck and its driver should be doing, officers have a better chance of catching illegal activity.

“I’m not a CMV expert and we’re not trying to be,” notes Ruiters. “We’re just aware of commonalities of criminals. It’s not only drugs but it will also combat stolen cargo and impaired drivers. We want the same as you, which is to get the people off the road who shouldn’t be there.”

In Canada, since the program was launched, $4 billion worth of drugs has been seized in routine traffic stops, and Ruiters says they haven’t even scratched the surface.

For carriers, Ruiters suggests they pay particular attention when hiring new drivers and empower drivers who make reports about suspicious activities. Also: be aware of activity when in Brampton, Ont.

“More cargo is stolen from Brampton, Ont. than anywhere else in Canada,” adds Ruiters.