CITS
Chairman - Ian Elliott
Welcome to the CITS website!
Hopefully you will explore the site to see what CITS is doing in 2026 to reduce crime across the Construction and Agricultural sectors. Whether you be from industry, a farmer, a builder, tradesperson, a police officer, or a representative from a construction or utility company you will find useful information and advice to help prevent crime and protect UK businesses.
CITS, is a voluntary ‘not for profit’ industry group, whose primary aim is to create strategic partnerships to reduce crime. As such our members engage with the Home Office, the Police, manufacturers, insurers and security businesses to design out crime.
Last year, was hugely successful for CITS, working together with the National Construction and Agricultural Theft Team (NCATT), we engaged in training over 1000 police officers on tactics to disrupt plant and machinery theft, protecting critical national infrastructure, protecting rural communities and raising the profile and the impact of crime on our industries. Working with the Construction Equipment Association and their fantastic Construction Equipment Security and Registration Scheme (CESAR) provided by Datatag, together with leading companies such as Clancy, Murphys, Balfour Beatty, NFU Mutual, Leica Geosystems, and Landcros, we provide free training for police officers and law enforcement to give officers the skills to identify and tackle construction and rural crime. The future 2026 training dates will be published throughout the year. We encourage Police services to contact us if they feel they would benefit a CITS/CESAR event being held in their force areas.
This year we will also be continuing our campaigns against tool theft, challenging companies to do more to forensically mark their tools, working with the vehicle manufacturers and Thatcham to create safer and more secure trade vehicles, working with hotels to provide safer overnight parking for trades vans, working with the Government, Police and Local Authorities to tackle the scourge of boot and tool fairs selling stolen tools, working with the Environment Agency to tackle industrial scale waste crime and fly tipping, challenging Companies House to make it harder to create ghost companies used in commercial hire fraud, and concentrating to protect businesses from the growing threat of cyber fraud and AI assisted scams. Its going to be a busy year!
All these topics are continuation of projects discussed at our hugely successful conference, held in November 2025 at the JCB World Headquarters. The leader of the official opposition of HM Government, Mrs Kemi Badenoch addressed the audience personally and highlighted the issues and how she supports the CITS Partnerships in tackling crime. Her address can be heard here:
This year we also hope to hold a conference in association with the fantastic Security Awareness Special Interest Group (SASIG). Aimed at both small and large businesses alike we will highlight the best ways you can protect your businesses from cyber frauds and identify the common attack methods to prevent you from being scammed!
So please look around the site, use what reference materials may be of use and utilise them. Moreover become involved, and join our partnerships! If you like what you see become a member!
Please get involved and help with these challenges!
If you are interested in joining us and helping to fight the criminals then please contact Faye, by emailing her at faye@cits.uk.com.
Ian Elliott
CITS Chairman 2026
CITS Mission Statement
The Combined Industries Theft Solutions forum (CITS) is a ‘not for profit’ organisation for the Construction and Agricultural industries.
Our sole purpose is to reduce the effects of crime on both the construction industry and the farming communities. This is done by understanding the latest criminal trends, by forging Partnerships with the Home Office, Police and other interested businesses, creating prevention strategies, designing out the crime, and promoting best practice across the UK.
Inherent in stopping crime is the ability to understand the vulnerabilities that criminals will use to exploit to their advantage. Intelligence is key and CITS members can protect themselves by learning of the latest methods that criminals are utilising.
Crime in these industries has many facets, from the physical theft of property, to cyber-related attacks and even internal staff thefts and procurement frauds. Thus CITS members are able to protect their businesses by understanding how the potential organised crime syndicates are operating and what they need to do to prevent attacks on their own business.
Our members are all highly experienced personnel drawn together from industry. Representatives from the Home Office, UK Police, construction and utility firms, contractors, machinery manufacturers, the insurance industry including the Thatcham Research Centre, the specialist plant hire companies and their trade associations and the Security industry are all CITS members.
New Business partners are invited to join CITS Partnership to encourage new innovations and help protect the communities in their sector.
Aside from an annual conference highlighting the latest strategies in crime prevention, CITS also hold regular Workshops focusing on key threats affecting our sectors.
