Combatting organised crime
Gary Higgins, Director of Security and Risk, DeterTech, speaks to Darrell Smart
GARY Higgins has always worked in crime prevention. After first joining the Metropolitan Police as a 19 year old in the 1980s and a successful police career spanning over 30 years that followed, he now finds himself director of security and risk for DeterTech, a company dedicated to greatly reducing the risk of crime. Survey equipment theft is a pandemic.
These are not opportunist thefts, this equipment is stolen to order. It’s big business and the threat and violence towards people simply carrying out their work is terrifying. Civil Engineering Surveyor’s Darrell Smart spoke to Gary Higgins to find out what industry can do to protect itself and fight back against these crimes.
Can you tell me a little bit about DeterTech and what you do?
We are an intelligence led organisation that provides a suite of security solutions that predict, deter and detect crime and gives greater peace of mind to the people and communities we serve every day.
We are in a very fortunate position that we have an information sharing agreement with the UK Police which allows us direct access to police crime data for crime prevention purposes. We have developed our own crime intelligence unit, staffed with police trained analysts that have access to industry, insurance and police crime data. Many large businesses, particularly in the infrastructure, construction, retail, utilities and energy sectors share their crime data with us.
The content of the vial is unique and will never be repeated anywhere in the world. That intelligence gathering gives us a very good understanding of how criminality is impacting national critical infrastructure and large corporate business in the UK.
Our intelligence unit mirrors what you would see in a police force and produces intelligence alerts, crime impact reports and strategic crime assessments to help businesses deal effectively with the impact of crime.
Our analysts understand how the police record incidents and how to analyse that data as it comes through. This level of understanding and analysis allows us to advise our client base on how to most effectively and efficiently place their security solutions.
SmartWater provides the first layer of our deterrent. It is a tried, tested and proven crime deterrent that provides forensic trace evidence, categorically linking criminals to the scene of their crime. SmartWater is a water based product that when deployed is invisible to the naked eye and virtually impossible to remove.
Within the water, there’s three key elements; a fluorescence that makes it glow a yellow/green colour under UV light; a polymer or glue that makes it stick to virtually any asset – that gives it its robustness in terms of how long it can last out in the elements – and a mix of rare earth metals that creates a unique forensic code. The content of the vial that you receive to mark your valuable items is unique and will never be repeated anywhere in the world. It’s a very powerful deterrent, which the criminal element in the UK know very well.
We advise our customers to mark their valuable assets to protect them but also to display the SmartWater badge to provide that first layer of defence. For over 30 years now, SmartWater protected equipment has led to police arrests and prosecutions, with a 100% conviction rate in contested court cases. Criminals know it and fear it.
As a former police officer, I would say the greatest concern is the reported increasing level of violence and the way in which some of these incidents are playing out.
CCTV is also a powerful deterrent.
At DeterTech we have a mobile CCTV system, the PID 360 – affectionately known in some circles as the Dalek. The PID 360 is a state of the art intruder detection alarm system with 360 degree field of view cameras. With its striking design, audio alerts and LED illuminators, it serves as a powerful deterrent against intruders.
Essentially, it’s a monitored batteryoperated device that you can put on your site and that provides a 360 degree security bubble around your assets. In the event of a criminal attack on the premises, it emits a bright light and a loud noise and captures a short video clip of the incident in action through a movement sensor on the device. The clip is uploaded into our monitoring centre and is reacted to extremely quickly, on average 47 seconds from activation to escalation to the emergency response.
What you typically see on those videos is people turning and running away, which is exactly what we want them to do. So, the look of the equipment and the industry leading response to its activation provides another very powerful and effective deterrent.
How large a problem is the theft of survey equipment and what issues does it raise with the industry?
The caveat here is that we don’t necessarily know the full extent of the problem; only what’s been reported directly to DeterTech and data that we get from both the police and the insurance sector. We often hear reports of lack of law enforcement activity but, if all incidents are not reported it’s impossible to know the full extent of the problem.
One of the frustrations with the survey industry, is the lack of reporting. Out of the 215 companies that The Survey Association (TSA) currently represents, very few report incidents to us. We need that number to increase. We work closely with TSA, it provides an incident form for its membership on its website to help companies to report incidents to DeterTech. I urge all those who suffer theft or attempted thefts of survey equipment to please report it.
The content of the report is also vital, be timely but also be accurate and detailed. Provide full descriptions, anything said, any weapons used, vehicle registration numbers and report the presence of any local CCTV cameras.
Taking all this on board, if you look at 2023 for example, about £3m worth of equipment was reported stolen and that level of offending has continued into 2024. As a former police officer, I would say the greatest concern is the reported increasing level of violence and the way in which some of these incidents are playing out.
Violence and the threat of violence has become more frequent and that is very worrying.
Arrests are being made and there are examples of successful recovery of stolen property but, the need for full, accurate and timely reporting is critical.There are incidents of surveyors working on the side of the road and vehicles pulling up alongside and occupant’s grabbing the equipment. You can imagine the risks involved in terms of confrontation, people trying to hold on to their equipment and what might happen as a result. We have also had reports of offences where victims have been followed from their place of work, confronted at their vehicles and threatened with violence.
More recently we have seen reports where a weapon has been brandished, a screwdriver, as an extension of the threat. It’s these threats of violence and the recent escalation to the use of weapons that are of the greatest concern.
In addition, a frequent methodology is the following of surveyors from their work place to a secondary location, most commonly a supermarket car park and the subsequent theft from their unattended vehicle whilst the surveyor is in the supermarket.
The level of concern is acknowledged by the industry and by the police. Arrests are being made and there are examples of successful recovery of stolen property but, the need for full, accurate and timely reporting is critical. It is also true that companies need to consider their own security provisions with the health and safety of staff the number one priority. Advice is available from DeterTech, on TSA’s website and on the National Business Crime Centre website.
Are there any trends in the types of equipment stolen?
Organised thieves will always consider risk and reward; what’s the risk if I steal an item and what’s the reward. Total stations are big ticket items because of their value. It’s a valuable piece of kit – whoever the manufacturer – so if an opportunity is presented, they will go for it.
In most cases they will already have a means of disposal before the theft. It might be a certain type of equipment that they target because that’s what they know they can sell for the greatest reward. They will go out looking for that particular piece of equipment to understand where it’s being used. Please pay attention to your surroundings and be aware of anyone showing interest in you, your vehicle or your business premises.
There’s no doubt that this is organised crime and there are areas of the country where it’s more prevalent. In recent times, north and east London have been targeted as well as the Birmingham area. There is intelligence, information and evidence to show that people are being followed and that certain items are being targeted. Often, there will be multiple offenders involved in multiple vehicles, both following and watching an identified target.
We’ve seen evidence of this, including the movement of stolen items from one vehicle to another, clear evidence of organised, planned criminality.
Do you know where the equipment ends up?
There is evidence to suggest that at least some of the stolen items end up overseas and we have had reports of recoveries from both airports and ferry ports. We’re also aware of equipment stolen in the UK being advertised on foreign auction sites. The evidence points towards what’s stolen in the UK being exported but that will not be the full picture and victims should always report any thefts quickly and be sure to advise the police of the value of the item stolen and the details of any tracking devices.
What the ratio of stolen equipment being found/ returned?
Only two or three percent of equipment that gets stolen ever gets recovered. This again highlights the need for accurate timely reporting to give the police every possibility of early action and to ensure that authorities are aware of the full extent of the problem.
What can surveyors do to prevent the theft of equipment?
There are ways that companies and individuals can deter criminality, the key is to make you, your vehicle and the site you are working on less attractive to criminals. In many cases they won’t be deterred from committing crime but you can encourage them go somewhere else.
Be aware, be vigilant, make sure that equipment is secured and alarmed. Don’t leave equipment unattended, work in pairs where possible and challenge individuals you don’t know on your site. Think about where you’re parking your vehicles with the equipment in the back, where you’re unloading. Is it a safe location? Apply good health and safety best practice and don’t take it for granted that you’re secure and safe.
Tracking is key too, both as a deterrent and obviously to help in any potential opportunity to recover stolen equipment. I will say again though, accurate and timely reporting is essential.
Preventative solution systems do work. Forensic marking, such as SmartWater, is proven to work very effectively. The marking makes it more difficult for thieves to sell on the equipment because it makes items uniquely identifiable and provides trace evidence to the police, even if stolen items are broken down. Thieves and handlers of stolen property also know that all the time they have SmartWater marked items in their possession they can be linked back to the scene of their crime.
Intelligent intruder detection alarm systems, such as the PID 360, are also highly effective.
Finally, can you tell our members about the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership and Combine Industries Theft Solutions?
DeterTech is a founding member of the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP). The partnership is a collaboration between safer business networks, Opal, DeterTech, police and industry partners from across the UK. It is designed to share intelligence and provide expert advice, training and support to combat infrastructure crime across our communities and all sectors of business, with the aim of protecting property and targeting those engaged in these criminal offences.
There is evidence to suggest that at least some of the stolen items end up overseas and we have had reports of recoveries from both airports and ferry ports.Every six weeks members are invited to the NICRP (industry) meeting. The meeting provides an opportunity for members to share updates on ongoing crime related issues, on series of offences and to share best practice. Members are given an intelligence briefing from DeterTech’s crime intelligence unit, based on all of the incidents reported and intelligence gathered in the preceding period.
The following week, representatives from police forces throughout the UK meet to discuss the findings of the industry meeting and to consider how crime is impacting industry, what crime trends industry is seeing, what types of assets are being stolen and to further consider tactical responses.
Police forces simply don’t have the resource to action and investigate every single incident. This sharing of data and intelligence allows the police to consider what is having the greatest impact and where and to respond accordingly.
The Combined Industries Theft Solutions (CITS) is a not for profit industry think tank dedicated to reducing crime within the agricultural and construction industries. They engage and form partnerships with the Home Office, the Police, manufacturers, insurers and security companies to design out crime. DeterTech work closely with CITS, again providing intelligence briefings and security alerts to the membership.
Intelligence is key and organisations can protect themselves by sharing and learning about the latest methods used by criminals, any trends, the areas where crime is prevalent and the equipment that is being targeted.
I urge companies to join these organisations, play an active part and take positive steps to reduce the impact of crime. It’s only by working together as an industry, reporting incidents and raising awareness that we can successfully predict, deter and detect crime.
Gary Higgins, Director of Security and Risk, DeterTech, was talking to Darrell Smart