Cargo thefts in state jump 300%; loss in '15 tops $7M

A breakdown of the type of products reported stolen in Arkansas from 2012-2016
A breakdown of the type of products reported stolen in Arkansas from 2012-2016

When cargo theft is reported in Arkansas, whichever agency, city, county or state police with jurisdiction handles it. However, many experts believe this is not the best way to approach investigating a lucrative, often organized and growing crime.

According to data from CargoNet, a national database and information sharing system about cargo theft, the value of stolen cargo in Arkansas increased by more than 300 percent from $1.6 million in 2012 to $7 million in 2015. Most cargo theft information comes from companies that independently report data, leaving out the thefts many companies do not submit.

The FBI reported about $27.9 million worth of cargo was stolen in 2015 nationwide, less than 20 percent of which was recovered.

"States like Arkansas need to come up with a task force themselves to develop communication between all the major law enforcement agencies in Arkansas that experience cargo theft," said David Larkin, chairman and co-founder of the Mid-South Cargo Security Council serving Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.

Larkin established the council because he realized companies weren't able to share cargo theft information with each other because of company privacy policies. The council now serves as a "resource, to be able to go behind locked doors, discuss common issues and provide law enforcement the tools and information to combat those particular crimes."

Scott Cornell started a cargo theft special investigations group for Travelers Insurance and is now the company's transportation lead crime and theft specialist.

He agreed that states need a way to consolidate experience and information because cargo theft investigations require a distinct skill set.

"When you hear law enforcement saying they just investigate it like any other problem, therein lies the problem," Cornell said

Cargo theft takes various forms, further challenging enforcement. Sometimes thieves will pick up a trailer load from a shipper disguised as a legitimate carrier or steal it off a yard. Sometimes people break into trailers at truck stops or parking lots and pilfer pallets or boxes -- known as leakage.

Cornell said a task force is the "the most effective law enforcement response."

However, when that's not possible, he suggests finding ways to consolidate expertise.

"The more repetition [investigators] get, the better they are. When you try to handle it with 150 people instead of 10, you might end up with investigators that only work one case a year," he said.

"But if you say, 'well, we don't have a lot of volume, but these few people are going to handle it,' you're going to have a much higher level of understanding of the crimes."

Cornell suggests cross-training certain officers with some relevant background, like commercial vehicle enforcement officers or auto theft division officers, when a task force is not possible.

Because there is such a high concentration of cargo theft in the Memphis area, in 2009 the FBI's local field office put together a full-time cargo theft task force from the bureau, and the city and county police.

Joel Siskovic, media coordinator for the Memphis FBI division, said that the nature of cargo theft has changed, making structures like task forces even more important.

"Ultimately it is being done by more organized groups who are targeting interstate commerce as the amount of the value being shipped increases," Siskovic said.

"The key to being able to address these trends and techniques of the way these crimes are being committed are these task forces and the way we share information," Siskovic added.

Jeremy Baker, assistant special agent in charge of the division, explained that even though cargo theft is considered a "property crime, it's definitely not far-fetched to think that the proceeds of cargo theft could go to violent crime and gang activity. The FBI tries to take a holistic approach about how it will affect the region."

He said the task force serves as "force multipliers," that increase manpower. "So, by virtue of having that task force vehicle in place, we can literally investigate more crimes," he said.

One challenge to investigations involves the nature of interstate commerce. Sometimes drivers do not realize cargo has been stolen until miles down the road, delaying law enforcement and further highlighting the importance of expertise consolidation. This is a particular problem in Arkansas, what Cornell calls a "passer state," as opposed to a "port state," where more cargo sits in dockyards and distribution centers for longer periods of time.

"In Arkansas, our history of cargo theft has mainly been on the east side of the state, where within minutes, it's out of state," explained Mark Blankenship, a special agent with the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

"When a truck is taken in West Memphis, within 10 minutes they can be across the river. There's got to be a lot of coordination of information put out in order for a recovery to even be potentially possible," Blankenship said.

Captain Joe Baker, commander of enforcement for the West Memphis Police Department, said that last year, when weapons were taken in a series of cargo thefts in the area, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives put together a temporary task force that involved his department, the St. Francis County and the Mississippi County sheriffs.

"Given the reach that this crime network had, it required a task force to keep up with the scope of where these things were happening," Joe Baker said. It successfully resulted in arrests and a stop to this particular theft ring.

Detective Sgt. Jason Bradshaw in St. Francis County also said the task force worked well.

"As with any kind of theft, the more people you have working it, the better off you are. We're a small department. We don't have a lot of people to go out and sit up on these places at night and watch the trucks, because they have other jobs to do," Bradshaw said. "Anytime you can put some people together, you can take a lot of small agencies and do a lot more."

Cornell calls cargo theft "America's invisible crime," because it is often unreported or misreported as grand larceny or auto theft. In addition, the face value of the cargo stolen does not accurately represent the cost to the businesses, consumers and the entire supply chain. "If you look at the values of cargo theft each year, nobody's just going to waive off that expense," he said.

"Everybody's going to see that expense in some way, down to the price of the products you buy."

SundayMonday Business on 12/18/2016

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