TruckPol

April to June 2014
Q2 2014 Progress Report
Catherine Bowen
Policy & Stakeholder Director
National Business Crime Solution (NBCS)
01799 533 635 / 07436 802 229
Catherine.Bowen@nationalbusinesscrimesolution.com
www.nationalbusinesscrimesolution.com
NBCS membership is expanding
There has been a significant upturn in businesses
joining the NBCS with 20 organisations now
on board. Recent members include Morrisons,
Booker and Greggs.
The NBCS has also provided support to over
30 national businesses and met with over 20
organisations interested in obtaining further
details about the work being undertaken by the
NBCS on data sharing and tackling cross border
crimes impacting on the business community.
TruckPol
Describing reasons for joining the NBCS, Bruce Duncan,
Retail Loss Prevention Manager at Greggs, said:
‘Earlier in the year we were suffering from a spate of burglaries which were
having a significant impact on our business. Because the offences went across
7 different force areas we were struggling to get an appropriate policing
response. The NBCS provided us with the support necessary to collate these
offences and engage with the various forces to prompt police activity, which
subsequently led to the timely arrest of those involved. The ability of the NBCS
to prompt action by the police and bring this series of offences to a rapid halt
has more than paid back the cost of one year’s membership’.
Collaborating to fight
truck and freight crime
Since the re-launch of TruckPol in March
there has been significant interest from
both the police and industry who are keen
to support this initiative. In response to the
letter to Chief Constables asking them to
supply freight crime data, the NBCS is
engaging with over 40 forces and more
than 150 officers across the UK.
TruckPol collated all incident details and
shared the movements of the vehicles
targeted with the police. Through close
engagement with the Central Motorway
Policing Group, TruckPol was able to provide
information on the movement of the vehicles
which enabled the police to identify a convoy
of suspect vehicles. This led to an organised
police operation being put into place and on
the same day following a stop of a suspect
vehicle 11 Eastern Europeans were arrested.
They were all remanded in custody on
a conspiracy charge and are due to be
sentenced in July.
A case study
TruckPol was contacted by the police after
they had received information relating to
two incidents which had involved the theft
of goods from vehicles whilst they were in
transit. The officers were keen to explore
whether this formed part of a wider
series and if TruckPol was aware of similar incidents.
John Traynor, Director of Security at TNT, said:
‘I was particularly impressed at the speed which TruckPol was
able to collate and disseminate information between the industry
and the police. This ensured that these offences were stopped
before this emerging trend became a significant crime series.
The ability of TruckPol to co-ordinate the information led to
a timely police operation and the successful arrest of those
involved. This is clear evidence of the value of sharing data
across the industry and bodes well for the future of TruckPol’.
TruckPol circulated the details in an alert to the police network
and were subsequently contacted by the police who informed
them of an MO prevalent in Eastern Europe whereby offenders
commit the offences whilst the vehicle is moving. TruckPol
subsequently alerted businesses to this MO and a possible
emergent series and asked them to send in any details of
similar unexplained losses that may form part of this series.
Fraud Scoping
On 24 July the NBCS will be hosting a meeting at the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau in London. The purpose of the meeting
is to discuss how the NBCS can help businesses overcome some of the concerns they have with reporting fraud to the police.
The value of sharing fraud data has already been evidenced at previous meetings where in one incident there was a 75% match against
participating businesses. The NBCS is now looking to broaden the trial and will be inviting businesses to provide 12 months data which it
can process to identify matches in the data exposing linked incidents and organised crime. The data will then also be matched against the
Action Fraud database within the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau to see where further links/crime series would have been identified.
Q
To sign up please call 01799 533 635
Managed Service from
Private Sector Intelligence ‘Hub’
From 1 April to 30 June 2014, there have been 39 investigations raised.
This has involved 33 police forces and 32 businesses.
Companies supported in the past three months are from various business
sectors including retail, wholesale, distribution and telecommunications.
NBCIB intervention yields significant outcomes:
Recovery of power tools
Recovery of cigarettes
Recovery of stolen credit
23 arrests resulting from
worth over £1500 following
to the value of over £2000
cards being used to obtain
interventions by the NBCIB
interventions by the NBCIB
following warrants for a
goods via deception
to flag a vehicle involved
team involved in 6 offences
in several offences against
against one member
participating businesses
business
Crime Trends
and Linked Series
Case study
In the last quarter there have been 33 cross force
investigations raised.
Of the investigations raised, there has been an upturn
in the amount of refund frauds being reported. A large
majority of these are by one offender – further details
in the case study below.
Cigarette related offences have also peaked
dramatically. The NBCIB is in discussions with several
police force areas about a possible linked series of
burglaries and robberies affecting the convenience
stores and supermarkets. There has also been an
upturn in cigarette related thefts from delivery vehicles.
Refund Fraudster
Throughout May and June, the NBCIB received a number of reports from
member businesses regarding a refund fraudster who was targeting various
retail stores along the South Coast. Goods ranged from curtains through
to food and alcohol.
In relation to this recent spate of offences
Dave Halsall, Head of LP Corporate Protection
at Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, said
‘Engagement with the NBCIB following the recent
spate of burglaries and robberies has allowed us to
put control measures in place based on intelligence
that we otherwise would not have had access
to. The ability to share information with other
businesses and for the NBCIB to engage with
the police on our behalf has proved to be a
great tool for our business’.
There has also been a recent linked series of burglaries
involving four police forces – this relates to a MO and
similar offending pattern from 2012/13 where activity
by the NBCIB assisted the forces to identify and
subsequently arrest those involved. The NBCIB have
passed this information on to police and are working
with the police analyst who will conduct research into
the suspect nominal’s and their current status.
The NBCIB circulated images of the suspect to the police and member
businesses. This raised awareness and ensured that member businesses
could take preventative action. It also prompted contact from Dorset police
who informed the NBCIB that the male in the images was wanted for over
30 offences in their force area. The NBCIB also received information from
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce stating that he had been responsible for
a series of previous offences in the North West. Further information from
a business crime reduction partnership helped the NBCIB to establish the
identity of the male involved and provided intelligence on various alias
names used. The NBCIB continued to gather information on the offences –
these involved over 60 offences and at least 6 businesses across 3 different
police force areas.
On 9 June the male was arrested following an offence at an Isle of Wight
store. On 11 June he pleaded guilty to the offences on the Isle of Wight and
was sentenced to 8 months in prison. The NBCIB is continuing to work with
the Officer in Charge to collate further offence details from NBCS member
businesses and other police force areas to put these outstanding offences
to the offender when he is produced from prison and hopes that this will
lead to a further charge.
Q
To sign up please call 01799 533 635