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Hijackers, meet LoJackers.

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Hijackers, meet LoJackers

by Michelle EauClaire

Wireless, radio signal tracking and recovery systems for mobile assets by LoJack Corp. work with law enforcement to provide super-sleuth "search and rescue" operations for heavy equipment.

It's 6:00 p.m. Do you know where your heavy-duty equipment is?

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) from 2005, existing figures suggest that heavy equipment theft is getting worse. Some national surveys show that the amount could be as much as $1 billion annually in losses and indirect costs, such as project downtime and overrun penalties. Statistics compiled show that 72% of companies have experienced equipment theft in the past five years, and only approximately 25% of stolen equipment is ever recovered. That does not guarantee that the equipment is whole or undamaged, only recovered.

In a recent survey conducted by Cygnus Business Media in 2005, a typical theft victim had a 10% chance of recovery; 55% of the recoveries took over a week, and less than 35% of the equipment recovered was undamaged.

Heavy equipment theft is growing in popularity with thieves due mainly to the low risk factor. Often there is very little machine or on-site security protecting the equipment, and the high price tag on the equipment means a fast sell with a lot of profit for the thief.

"Some pieces of stolen heavy equipment end up in the hands of professional theft rings, or even in chop shops where they are stripped down to components that can be sold separately on the black market or are shipped overseas," states Kathy Kelleher, national manager, Commercial Div., LoJack Corp., Westwood, MA.

Unfortunately, there are job managers who are willing to buy stolen equipment for cheap in order to save money, and there are also unsuspecting contractors that don't realize they are buying stolen property. According to the National Equipment Register (NER), "If an item is recovered, an arrest may not be made. Where an arrest is made, a conviction may not be secured. Even where a conviction is secured, the penalty is likely to be light."

On top of that, most equipment does not have obvious unique indicators to separate it from other equipment. There is a PIN number, but many of the components...

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