A FIRST JOINT POLICE AND INDUSTRY PARTNERED TRAINING EVENT IN IRELAND
The Combined Industry Theft Solutions (CITS) group, in partnership with police and industry partners, held a special police training event at Newforge Conferencing Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The event held on the 20th May, was the first ever CITS specialist training event to be held in Ireland.
On the 20th May 2026, police and leading security experts from industry came together for a one-day training event. The event was opened by CITS Vice Chairman and J Murphy & Son’s head of security, Seumas Ascott and by Andrew Huddleston KPM Head of the National Rural Crime Unit.
The event supported by J Murphy & Son’s, received input from Ashely Tether from the National Construction and Agricultural Theft Team (NCATT), who is also a stolen vehicle examiner. Ashley explained the current threats, theft trends, the impact of Brexit, and identifying stolen plant. He also gave the officers practical advice and tips to stop rogue machinery movements.
Input was also given by Peter Wilson, police liaison officers of the official CESAR security marking Scheme. As well as further input from Kirsty Hyslop, NFU Mutual’s vehicle crime and MI Specialist, John Mussett, Director of Investigations at RADIUS formerly CANTRACK Global and Cedric O’Flaherty, Detertech Country Manager for Ireland.
The event welcomed over 100 police officers from both PSNI and Garda forces. These invaluable nationwide events are aimed to highlight the current threats and the importance of working in partnerships to tackle crime, in particular to the construction and agricultural sectors. These events are also supported by the Home Office industry scheme, CESAR.
Officers also had the opportunity to learn about the new Registered Asset Police Information Database (RAPID) search application. RAPID is a powerful web-based search tool designed to significantly enhance the speed and efficiency of plant and machinery identification. With advanced mobile technology, RAPID enables officers to access the CESAR Database of over 700,000 registered assets directly from their smartphones, allowing for quick identification of stolen property and swift progress in investigations.
Seumas Ascott CITS Vice Chairman commented on the success of the day,
“These training events are invaluable to forces especially in times of scarce resource. At CITS we promote a partnership approach to help deter theft in our sectors. CITS are pleased to be able to visit Ireland to raise awareness and educate their police forces and develop partnerships. The feedback from the officers on the day was exceptionally positive and makes the efforts from all involved worthwhile.”
CITS work in partnership with police, crime-fighting organisations, and machinery manufacturers, to provide officers with the knowledge and detection techniques to combat equipment theft, in order to be one step ahead of the criminals. The CITS training events are invaluable to aid police in recovering more stolen equipment.
The next training event will take place on the 14th July at Leica’s premises in Surrey.
Officers should register their interest for future events, with faye@cits.uk.com.
Further details can be found on the CITS website www.cits.uk.com
