IBC teams up with regional authorities to stamp out cargo theft

With cargo theft a growing issue in Canada, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is participating in a national campaign to deter thieves and help protect truck operators.

The bureau is teaming up with Peel Regional Police, Canadian National Police, Crime Stoppers, and the Ontario Trucking Association to launch the 2018 Cargo Theft Prevention campaign.

Peel Regional Police has developed two theft prevention resources to help reduce cargo crimes in the Peel Region and surrounding GTA: the Cargo Theft Prevention pamphlet and the Cargo Theft Assessment form. Both will be printed in English, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu.

The two resources will be made available free to access at each police division.

The campaign will officially launch November 09, as part of Crime Prevention Week.

A cargo theft reporting database that the IBC maintains with the Canadian Trucking Alliance found that theft instances throughout Canada have steadily increased in recent years. According to the database, 2016 saw cargo thefts worth $42.3 million. But in 2017, there were $46.2 million reported losses.

For the first six months of 2018, cargo thefts worth $27 million were recorded in the database.