Combined Industries Theft Solutions

CITS

Chairman - Ian Elliott

Welcome to the CITS website and hopefully you will explore the site and find useful advice whether you be a police officer, a farmer, a builder or tradesperson,  a representative from a construction or utility company or just exploring the web. CITS is a not for profit industry think tank dedicated to reducing crime from the Agricultural and Construction industries. As such we engage with the Home Office, the Police, the manufacturers, the insurers and security businesses to design out crime. 

As a group we are dedicated to forming partnerships to offer advice, and suggest ways of protecting both large and small businesses from crime.  This comes in many forms, from the old established methods of thefts and burglaries,  the increasing risk of frauds to the super sophisticated electronic hacking attacks and cyber frauds. Businesses must be aware of the potential risks, even including that of the insider threats. Within the website you will find best practice suggestions from experts from every field. 

This year, 2023, CITS will continue to focus on a number of significant issues. The first, and one that affects a huge number of small businesses and large companies alike, is that of the theft of tools from both sites and from vehicles. Too many tradesmen are losing the tools of their trade, causing horrendous problems. Thus we will be looking at what can be done, how we can protect the sites and vans and how we can make stolen tools less attractive to the second hand market. 

Our aim is to review tool security and how utilising the latest technologies we can protect them more, how we can get manufacturers to register the ownership of the purchaser at the point of sale to enable Police to identify the true owner, how small businesses can utilise aftermarket security to mark equipment cheaply and efficiently, how van manufacturers can provide more theft resistant cargo areas to secure their contents, and how we can encourage safer parking areas in hotels and car parks for work vans parked overnight. 

We are also determined to continue holding a number of workshop events around the Country for Police officers from all forces to highlight the problems these industries face. These events will include stolen plant and machinery identification courses. The aim is to give police officers both the knowledge and confidence to identify suspicious movements of equipment and identify stolen property easily. 

Next we aim to hold a number of cyber crime events highlighting the huge danger that international E-criminals can wreak to businesses and the tricks to look out for to prevent you from becoming a victim.  

Finally in the last quarter of 2023 we hope to run our main conference combining all the above subjects which will include panel discussions with both industry and Police experts. We will also be inviting exhibitors along to demonstrate their latest products to the audience which will help reduce theft. More information will appear on this website once all is confirmed.  

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! 

So 2023 is going to be a busy busy year!  Please get involved and help with these challenges!