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Two issues ago
in my Editor's Comments titled "Let's Wipe
Out a $1 Billion-per-Year Business," I told the story
of how my neighbor had his brand-new compact loader stolen
from a work site. Not surprisingly, he was livid when he called
to tell me about it, and his mood had hardly improved after
visits with his insurance company and the local sheriff's
department, both of which acquainted him with the painful
fact of life that there was little likelihood his machine
would be recovered. "Snowball's chance in hell"
was the sheriff's considered opinion, though the insurance
agent sounded a note of optimism with a story about the recovery
of a dozer that someone was attempting to drive across the
border into Mexico. It seems that not every thief has a well-nourished
stealth gene.
As it turns out,
some snowballs are more heat-resistant than others, because
three weeks later I was present when the call came from the
deputy sheriff announcing the loader's miraculous return
from the grave.
How did they manage
to recover it in the face of seemingly impossible odds? "Total
fluke," the deputy explained. "We stopped this guy
towing a trailer just to tell him his lights weren't
working, but it turned out that he had no license, registration,
or proof of insurance."
It was about this
time that a highway patrol cruiser stopped by to see what
was up, and after a brief check, the patrolman determined
that the truck itself was stolen, as was the trailer and–of
course–the loader.
Once in custody,
the driver explained that he was only the deliveryman who
had been paid to transport the entire package–truck,
trailer, and loader–to a contractor in the next county.
Two phone calls and a midnight visit to the home of the alleged
purchaser turned up four more pieces of stolen equipment along
with the name of a local equipment rental business owner who
was running a theft ring on the side.
You'd have
thought there would have been enough surprises for one phone
call, but the deputy was not yet finished. "Maybe you'd
like to know how your loader came to be stolen? You've
got an employee named Pete Jones [not his real name], don't
you?" Though I couldn't hear what the deputy was
saying, I could tell by the look on my buddy's face that
the news he was getting was not all good.
"Yeah, Pete
started working for me three months ago when his own company
went belly-up. I felt kind of sorry for him. I take it he's
involved in this."
"I guess that's
what you get for trying to be a nice guy," the deputy
sympathized. "Seems that he's been fingering equipment
for quite a while. Now you have to find someone else to take
his place and hope that he's not a crook."
What lessons can
we learn? The first thing is that equipment theft is big-time
business and that no one–even those who live and work
in laid-back, seemingly safe and secure surroundings–is
immune. The next is that there are a number of effective antitheft
devices and systems available on the market to deal with different
situations. The third–and perhaps most painful lesson–is
that the threat is not just "out there" somewhere,
but close at hand.
The bottom line
is that equipment security–like personnel safety–is
not an action or even a collection of devices and practices
but, rather, a mindset: the establishment of a culture that
recognizes the threats and takes steps to counter them before
they can gain a foothold. What are the keys? Awareness, preparedness,
vigilance–yes, these are elements, but to be effective
they must be constantly reviewed, renewed, and reinforced.
And that's one of the challenges that Grading &
Excavation Contractor is going to address on a continuing
basis. Beginning with our next issue, we will present an ongoing
discussion department that we hope will prove to be a valuable
part of your own equipment security program.
Our Brand-New
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