Described as a scourge that costs Canadians $5 billion a year, the
Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and the Association du camionnage du Québec (ACQ) are teaming up to crack down on cargo theft.
Thanks to the Programme provincial de déclaration de vol de cargaison, the cargo theft reporting program launched in Quebec by the two organizations, in collaboration with the Service du renseignement criminel du Québec (SRCQ) and Quebec's two police services, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM), it has now become much easier to share information among the trucking community, companies, insurers and the authorities.
“We are very pleased about this partnership which will help us more actively combat cargo theft,” said Charles Rabbat, director, investigative services, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, at IBC. “It is essential that these crimes be solved and recorded, and that the criminals be prosecuted. These crimes are very costly and benefit organized crime.”
It was a 2011 study that pegged the cost of cargo theft in Canada at $5 billion, said Rabbat.
Insurers and ACQ members can now report cargo theft, in complete confidentiality, directly to IBC via an online submission form, which is also accessible on the ACQ website. Thus, IBC will act as a clearing house and collect and analyze the information received, and promptly share it with a national network of law enforcement partners, including Canadian and American border agencies.
Law enforcement will also be able to ask IBC to search the database to identify the owners of the property and fast track its recovery.
Marc Cadieux, President and General Manager of the Association du camionnage du Québec, stated that his organization has been working with its partners for several years now to identify solutions to this scourge, stressing the importance of reporting these thefts so that an effective database can be set up.
“The cost related to cargo theft not only affects transport companies,” said Cadieux, “but also society as a whole, which ultimately absorbs the higher merchandise prices incurred by this type of crime.”
