Specialist police training funded in full by the CEA (Construction Equipment Association) through revenues generated by the CESAR Scheme has helped officers in Scotland identify and recover stolen construction equipment carrying false identities.
The recovery followed a major investigation led by the National Construction and Agri Theft Team (NCATT), targeting an organised group suspected of stealing machinery, cloning its identity and selling it on.
The operation resulted in more than 60 machines being seized, with investigators identifying a further number of sales which are now being traced.
Two of those machines had been sold into Scotland.
NCATT contacted officers who had previously taken part in CITS training delivered during a roadshow in Aberdeenshire earlier this year. Police Scotland officers responded immediately, recovering a twin drum roller at around 9pm that evening and a Thwaites dumper the following morning. Both machines were found to be carrying false identities.
The CITS training programme is organised by CITS and funded in full by the CEA using revenues generated by CESAR, helping police officers develop specialist knowledge around construction and agricultural machinery identification, theft and recovery.
Police Scotland officer Marc Davidson, who attended the training at Thainstone, Inverurie, was involved in the subsequent recovery. He said: “Without that roadshow I wouldn’t have had any idea of what I was doing. The stuff you guys showed us was absolutely brilliant and getting to put that into practice was genuinely very rewarding.”
Andrew Huddleston KPM, Head of the Police National Rural Crime Unit and National Construction and Agri Theft Team, said: “Without the training, we would not have had officers with the knowledge to do the job and the willingness to get involved in helping tackle machinery theft. Put simply, CITS training events work.”
The wider NCATT investigation involved five warrants across West Mercia and other areas, with West Mercia Police deploying around 120 officers as part of the operation.
Dave Luscombe, CESAR/Police Liaison and Special Projects Consultant at the CEA, said: “This is exactly why the CEA continues to invest CESAR revenues back into police training.
Giving officers the knowledge to identify stolen and cloned machinery can make a real difference when they encounter equipment in the field. In this case, officers were able to put that training directly into practice and recover two machines that might otherwise have gone undetected."
Dave added: “It is a very tangible example of CESAR revenues being used to support the police and help tackle equipment crime.”
Revenue generated through CESAR enables the CEA to reinvest in work supporting the fight against construction and agricultural equipment theft, including police training and collaboration with specialist national policing teams.
