POLICE AND INDUSTRY WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP TO COMBAT CRIME
The Combined Industry Theft Solutions (CITS) group, in partnership with police, and Hitachi Construction Machinery UK, held a successful police training event at the new Hitachi facilities in Matford, Exeter.
On September 20th, CITS in conjunction with Hitachi Construction Machinery, hosted a special police training event for over 70 police officers from regional forces.
The officers attended a full day's training, which was opened by CITS chairman Ian Elliott, the Group Head of Security for the utility company Clancy, alongside CITS vice chairman, Seumas Ascott, Group Head of Security for the construction company J Murphy & Son’s.
The training was delivered by both specialist police training officers and industry experts including DC Chris Piggott, of NCATT and Police Liaison officers on behalf of the official CESAR Scheme, who taught officers about the current threats around Construction and Agricultural machinery theft and highlighted techniques to identify stolen machinery, rogue equipment movements and common tricks used by criminals to target industry.
Marcus Rowe presented on behalf of Leica Geosystems, demonstrated the Leica Total stations surveying equipment and new GPS excavator guidance systems.
Jordan Chapman, Digital Solutions Manager at HCMUK commented, "HCMUK were delighted to promote our ongoing support to CITS, at their recent Police training event which was held at our new Product Support depot in Exeter. Not only do these training events help raise awareness, but they also provide an opportunity for Police Officers to get hands on with identification & detection technique training to reduce construction site theft and rural crime.
At HCMUK, we take theft of equipment very seriously, and we are committed to providing solutions to protect our customers Hitachi assets from theft. By hosting these events we are able to demonstrate our commitment by assisting the UK Police forces with identifying stolen assets. By working closely with CITS and the UK Police, HCMUK has developed industry leading theft prevention and recovery technology which is now standard fit on our compact range of excavators.
We are looking forward to hosting Combined Industries Theft Solutions with future Police training events and helping our industry tackle crime!"
CITS Chairman Ian Elliott commented on the success of the day "It is really important to create partnerships with Police and highlight the issues our industry face in these tough times. All too often we hear people being critical of the police with regards to theft from both farms and construction sites. I can assure you that after speaking to these officers nothing is farther from the truth. The enthusiasm they have shown tackling this type of crime and arresting the criminals is so refreshing."
The event was also supported by the Home Office industry schemes, CESAR, and MicroCESAR, both identification marking systems used by Police to easily identify ownership of plant and machinery used on both farms and construction sites.
CITS, an industry forum comprising of representatives from the Home Office, Police, Insurers and Industry will continue to host a series of further events. Officers should register their interest for future events, with faye@cits.uk.com
Further details can be found on the CITS website www.cits.uk.com
The next police training event will take place on the 21st November in Scotland.
