Police and Industry working in partnership to combat crime
The Combined Industry Theft Solutions (CITS) group, in partnership with police and partners, held a successful police training event at Kent police College in Maidstone.
On February 26th, the first CITS police training event of 2024, took place in conjunction with the National Construction and Agricultural theft team (NCATT), Police liaison officers of the official CESAR Scheme, representatives of Secure By Design (SBD), NFU Mutual, Leica, Clancy’s, Hitachi and support from Leica and FM Conway.
The special police training event hosted at Kent Police College in Maidstone, hosted over 50 police officers from regional forces, including from Kent Rural Task Force, Kent Road Safety unit, Surrey Police, Sussex Police, Port of Dover and Essex Police.
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.
The police only CITS training events have been rolled out since 2022, aiming to highlight the current threats and the importance of working in partnerships to tackle crime.
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 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.
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. Working in partnership and educating officers of the current threats and technology available to them to identify suspicious equipment is more vital than ever. The continued success and importance of these events has been invaluable. All too often we hear people being critical of the police with regards to theft from both farms and construction sites but I can assure you that after speaking to offices at these events nothing is farther from the truth.’
Doug Skins, Secured by Design, had this to say “It was a pleasure to attend the Combined Industries Theft Solutions (CITS) police training event. The presentations and briefings were excellent and will have benefitted all delegates, equipping them with vital knowledge for their role. Having officers examine machines demonstrating CESAR, Micro-CESAR, and OEM markings, allows officers to learn of high-risk items which are susceptible to theft and moreover gives them the confidence to identify stolen property easily.”
PS Darren Walshaw from Kent police commented,” The event was a great opportunity for the officers to improve their knowledge and skills in relation to detecting and identifying stolen machinery or plant. These increased skills and the contacts made with the industry experts on the day will be a great asset in reducing rural crime and construction site theft for all forces who attended”.
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 in 2024. Officers should register their interest for future events, with
Further details can be found on the CITS website www.cits.uk.com
The next police training event will take place on the 5th June at NFU Mutual, Stratford upon Avon.