CPA Bulletin

26 CPA Bulletin > May 2023 www.cpa.uk.net PLANT THEFT PLANT THEFT: 1 New Police Operational Unit Fuel Theft Increasing Froma recently received note from the ACE Opal Unit, reports of fuel theft have increased. Comparing January 2023 with January 2022, fuel thefts have doubled, with specific regions at particular risk - namely South Wales, Humberside, and South and West Yorkshire. Some examples include 70,000 litres of fuel stolen in Carmarthenshire on 17th February, and in Bournemouth, two incidents in November 2022 and January 2023 resulted in £30,000 fuel being stolen. To help us understand the true scale of the problem, if any member has suffered fuel theft since the use of red diesel ended on 1st April 2022, then David Smith and Chris Cassley would be grateful to collate this information and forward it on to the Government for comment at the appropriate time. Please email any details to david @ cpa.uk.net or chris @ cpa.uk.net . All information will be treated in the strictest confidence. A new police ‘operational’ unit will be called the National Construction and Agri Theft Team (NCATT), which will be headed by Superintendent Andrew Huddleston of Northumbria Police, who is the national lead for theft of agricultural and construction machinery and equipment. The unit’s number one national priority will be on machinery and equipment theft. Two specialist investigation officers from the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) have as of January nowmoved over to NCATT, but Superintendent Huddleston has said the links with NAVCIS are key and joint operations at Ports for example will continue. Over the coming months, Supt. Huddleston will begin making representations to industry to help fund this unit due to no long-term funding being available from government. He has made it clear that he wishes to expand the coverage of what the team already does across further across UK and ideally have a dedicated fraudulent hire to steal investigative officer. As well as operational support and nationwide training of officers, the unit will continue to lead on the Theft Prevention Bill for UK Policing and very much wants to work with the CPA on this.