It becomes very hard to track a lot of these items, which makes them valuable
– there’s demand, and they’re hard to track.”
Detective sergeant Michael Horvath, who serves with the Break and
Enter unit of the Saskatoon Police Service, says tools are also one of the
most frequently stolen items he sees. But he has also encountered incidents
where thieves tried to make off with much larger pieces of equipment.
“We’ve seen some specialty equipment go missing from businesses and
construction sites,” said Horvath. “We’ve actually even seen things as big
as skid steers go missing in Saskatoon. And with respect to the relationship
between construction and industrial compounds where some of that
equipment is kept, we do see compound break and enters in our community
as well.”
According to Horvath, while large machinery is an expensive loss for
contractors, it can also be easier for police to recover because it is more
readily identifiable than most tools, even when it is transported outside of
the city where it was being used.
“Do we actually recover a lot of the tools?” Horvath asked. “I would say not
particularly. We have recovered some larger machinery that has been stolen,
like a Bobcat or a skid steer. We’ve had them recovered both in communities
outside of Saskatoon – up to an hour away – to just outside the Alberta border.”
According to Parker, one reason recovery rates for goods stolen from
construction sites remain low is because many business owners do not report
thefts when they occur. This makes it more difficult for the police to
investigate these crimes and return recovered items to their owners.
“I know a lot of businesses will think police involvement will just complicate
things, and some of the items are minimal in value, so they’ll just
go on without reporting to police,” Parker said. “It may (even) affect their
bottom line to halt on something important for an investigation. But if you
want your items back, we have to know about it. We can recover items, but
if they’re not tied to any investigation, it’s hard to return them.”
In Saskatoon, the city has been cracking down on thieves who pawn
their stolen goods by requiring pawn shops to report their transactions to
the police every day. And Horvath suggests there is currently a surplus of
tools on the market in Saskatchewan and Alberta, which is making them
more difficult to sell. Still, he says, tools of dubious provenance continue
to crop up online.
“If a contractor is shopping on a social media website for used tools, that
should be a red flag,” he said. “There’s always a risk that something’s stolen.”
Parker is also aware of thieves selling tools on websites like Craigslist or
Kijiji and says contractors should make sure to purchase their tools through
a reputable retailer to avoid buying stolen goods by accident. And if a contractor
does purchase tools they believe may have been stolen, Parker says
they have a responsibility to report it to their local police service.
“If they believe they have an item involved in theft, that’s information regarding
a crime and we’d like to know about it,” Parker said.
Tips from loss prevention experts
To make these tools less attractive targets and easier to return if they are
stolen, both Parker and Horvath recommend keeping a detailed inventory
of items on the construction site, marking tools in a readily identifiable way
and reporting thefts when they do occur.
“The biggest issue with respect to stolen items is the identification of the
stolen items,” Horvath said. “And do we see contractors or companies or
even individual trade professionals making their tools, either by engraving
them or with some sort of identifying mark that would enable detectives to
follow up? No, we don’t see that.”
Another critical aspect of preventing theft is to properly secure construction
sites at night. This might include hiring security personnel, ensuring
the site is well lit, attaching GPS tracking device in vehicles, or installing
security cameras.
“I don’t believe that a lot of construction sites are typically doing
much wrong,” Parker said. “I really don’t want to blame them for these
crimes. … But it’s a crime of opportunity, and the more you can minimize
the opportunity, the better. So if there’s any equipment you can
take with you at night, all the better. But I know that can be an impractical
thing.”
Horvath says overnight construction site safety has gotten worse in his
time on the force because police officers are stretched thinner than they
used to be.
“The attraction to criminal activity on construction sites is just the fact
that they’re either non-secure or not surveilled,” he said. “And it’s just a reality
of policing in 2020 that our uniformed officers don’t have the capacity
like they did 30-plus years go to be doing random patrols and monitoring
these areas. So when the sites are not secured by some sort of compound
or fence area, they’re wide open.”
Some of the methods contractors are currently using to secure their
sites may not be as effective as they think. Horvath said he often hears of
contractors locking their tools in a shed or a trailer that remains on site
overnight, which he has not found to be a particularly strong deterrent
for thieves.
“I’ve been doing this job for 23 years,” he said. “In my experience, if
criminals want to get into a toolshed or a trailer, it’s very simple for them
to get in.”
Ultimately, Horvath says investing in proper security for heavy construction
sites is a necessary business expense and will minimize the risk
of greater losses later on.
“These areas just have to be surveilled,” he said. “Contractors need to
look into putting in some sort of surveillance at night to keep track of their
property. … It’s really about investing in your business and investing in
your job site to make sure that your property is secure.”
BUSINESS
CEZARFIX/123RF
“The attraction to criminal
activity on construction sites is
just the fact that they’re either
non-secure or not surveilled.”
– Detective Sergeant Michael Horvath
34 | Quarter 2 2020 | saskheavy.ca
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