Motor Vehicle Theft * USA - Down Significantly In 2010

FBI:   Despite a rise in demand and prices for used cars, rates for vehicle theft fell in 2010

Washington,DC,USA -The Car Connection -23 May 2011: ...  That's according to new numbers released this morning from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in a preliminary version of its Annual Uniform Crime Report, covering 2010...  Motor-vehicle theft was down a significant 7.2 percent nationally in 2010, compared to 2009; that's following the significant drops of 17.1 and 12.7 percent, respectively, for the previous two years. And the South (9.5 percent) and West (7.9 percent)—where car theft has been more of an issue for many years—showed the largest declines...  The only rise in crime that could potentially be vehicle-related is in larceny reported by "nonmetropolitan counties"—meaning crimes reported to sheriffs' departments, county police, and state police, all outside Metropolitan Statistical Areas (big cities and their suburbs)...  There was one sour angle to last year's record drop of 17.1 percent nationwide: In 2009, the rate of recovery for stolen vehicles was lower than ever—actually at its lowest point, as a percentage of all stolen vehicles, in 25 years. That's likely related to car thieves more often belonging to more sophisticated organized-crime networks...  Vehicle related crimes, and property crimes as a whole, weren't the only ones down last year. Violent crime also showed a significant 5.5-percent drop overall from 2009 to 2010...  (Photo: Thief Stealing a Car)

CARGO THEFT * UK - Number of lorry thefts is ‘soaring’

40 per cent increase in the number of large goods vehicles being stole

London,EN,UK -Express and Star -21 March 2011: -- Lorries carrying valuable loads are increasingly being stolen from the region’s motorways by gangs who sometimes resort to violence, it was revealed today...  There has been a 40 per cent increase in the number of large goods vehicles being stolen, with rising scrap metal prices fuelling the multi-million pound criminal enterprise...  In the West Midlands, there were 141 large goods vehicles, which include trucks weighing more than 7.7 tons, stolen last year. That compared to 101 the previous year...  A new report by Truckpol, a nationwide police and industry intelligence unit which tackles the problem of road freight crime, revealed the combined vale of vehicles and their loads stolen was at least £52 million nationally...  Electrical goods, clothes, cigarettes, alcohol and metal are among the merchandise most commonly stolen...  Nationally, the number of vehicles stolen rocketed by nearly 60 per cent from 1,604 in 2009 to 2,552 last year... 

Cargo theft * USA - Where are trucks most vulnerable?

In the distribution centers and terminal lots ... 

Grain Valley,MO,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Charlie Morasch -18 Feb 2011: -- Distribution centers and terminal lots were the No. 1 location for stolen cargo in the last year, though truck stops also rank high on the list of cargo theft locations... FreightWatch International, a logistics security firm, recently released its monthly report on cargo theft... From February 2010 through January 2011, more than 120 reported cargo theft incidents occurred at truck stops. Nearly 100 such incidents were reported for the category of “secured distribution centers/terminal lots,” with nearly another 100 for secured DCs and terminal lots... More than 20 cargo thefts were reported from public access parking lots, fewer than 20 were reported from roadside thefts, and only a handful of cargo thefts were reported under “fictitious pickup and “driver theft” categories... (Photo from i.huffpost: Truck cargo theft )

Cargo Theft * USA - Rose to Record High in 2010

A reported 75 cargo thefts took place per month across transport industry

Austin,TXS,USA -Today's Trucking (CAN) –21 Jan 2011:  --  New Jersey's cargo thefts flew off the charts in 2010 with a staggering 142 percent increase of recorded incidents over 2009... While California, Florida and Texas all saw slight decreases in the number of cargo theft incidents, the Garden State apparently had 121 cargo thefts compared to just 50 the year before, according to FreightWatch International... Not surprisingly, TVs were stolen in the U.S. more than any other single product in 2010, which was an annual record for stolen cargo... Cargo theft rose by 4.1 percent last year, to 899 cargo theft incidents (an average of 75 per month) the most ever recorded,...  After TVs, computer-laptops and cell phones were the most stolen cargo products... Pharmaceuticals once again measured as the highest per-incident value lost, averaging $3.78 million, with tobacco second and electronics third... Freightwatch identified multiple-trailer thefts as an important trend in 2010...   Of all the reported incidents, 81 percent were full truckload or container thefts. Violence, such as hijackings, was involved in 1.3 percent of the incidents...

‘Terminal Robbery’ * USA - Thieves hit L.A. Port area; becoming common

Anually steal merchandise valued at more than $10 billion nationwide

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Trucker News Services -12 Nov 2010: -- Police did not disclose contents of the trailers, but cargo thieves annually steal merchandise valued at more than $10 billion nationwide and the L.A. area is reported to be the “epicenter” of cargo theft activity... In a type of crime that is becoming known as a “terminal robbery,” thieves Sunday night made off with three trailers, each loaded with valuable merchandise, at a depot near the Port of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reports... A man pretending to be a lost driver asking for directions duped a security guard into coming outside the cargo area to give him directions and the man and two others hit him the guard in the face and warned him they would use their weapons on him if he resisted... The assailants overpowered the guard and another employee and bound and gagged them and “with military precision” opened the depot to “a small fleet” of tractors and began hooking up the loaded trailers, the news report stated...

* In Georgia, trucking industry fights cargo theft. Bureau of Investigation starts major theft unit, has seized more than $17M of stolen cargo

Augusta,GA,USA -The Augusta Chronicle/SecurityInfoWatch, by KYLE MARTIN -29 Nov 2010: ... Authorities say, Georgia is a major hub for shipping companies, with an estimated 43.5 million truckloads of cargo valued at $1.4 trillion passing through the state in 2009... That's an attractive lure for thieves, who break the locks on trailers or force drivers to open them at gunpoint. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation created a Major Theft Unit specifically to address this problem and has seized more than $17 million in stolen cargo... In Augusta, sheriff's office reports show thieves steal whatever they find in cargo trucks, from beef broth and boxed wine to toilet paper... Last year, trucks hauling frozen beef and $8.8 million worth of pharmaceuticals were stolen from Haralson County on the Alabama state line. Those types of incidents make cargo theft a "huge issue" for both truckers and consumers, said Edward Crowell, the president and CEO of the Georgia Motor Trucking Association... Crowell added that stolen goods, including medicine and improperly refrigerated food, will find their way back into the market... The problem is that many of the goods are sold on the Internet and have already disappeared by the time authorities are aware of a theft, Cannon said...