FELONS' PLANS
Page 65
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When a felon's not engaged on his employment Or lnaturing his felonious little plans, His capacity for innocent enjoyment
Is justas great as any other man's. Is justas great as any other man's.
RETURNING with other travellers from the South ,of France, as the holiday season draws to its close, are probably some of the members of the gangs of lorry thieves that had such a good time last winter and are looking forward to being at least as well rewarded in the winter to come. It is a particular blessing for them that Christmas comes at the end of the year and riot in the middle of summer. Their richest opportunities come t the time when the season is most propitious.
Dark nights and inclement weather suit the thief with his eye on a consignment of goods in a lorry. From early autumn onwards warehouses and shops are stocking up in preparation for the Christmas rush and there is an unusually large proportion of consumer goods in transit. The well-equipped transport operator takes extra care at this time and makes sure that, when his vehicles have to remain loaded overnight, they are safely under cover and protected, preferably in his own depot. Some other operators, particularly those with limited resources, are not always so careful.
They would be wise to review the matter. Indications are that during the next few months the volume of thefts from vehicles will rise to a new record. The criminals are ready to seize their chance, and vehicle owners and drivers must be ready to oppose them. At least some progress has been made. The Vehicles' Security Committee of the Road Haulage Association, which includes representatives from Scotland Yard as well as of other interests, has given good advice from time to time, and not the least of its services has been to highlight the problem.
THE thieves thrive in secret and publicity is the last thing they desire. They are not pleased that the R.H.A. have brought their activities into the open, or that the example is being followed. The group of long-distance operators known as the Transport Association have recently set up their own committee, which one hopes will work in close co-operation with its forerunner. Parliament also is becoming more aware of the problem. Questions are being asked by M.P.s whose constituents have been victims of the lorry thief.
More publicity will go a long way to help operators and the police in their struggle this winter. Particular attention should be paid to telling the story in depots, transport cafés and other places where drivers meet. A great responsibility rests upon the man who is in charge of a vehicle, and it is important to maintain his morale and vigilance. The general public can also play their part and should be exhorted to do so.
Even the vehicle operators should not be neglected. Many of them seem strangely apathetic, and, incredible as it may seem, they are by no means always in favour of publicity. Their reasoning appears to be that, the more the news of the thefts is noised abroad, so much the more will the thieves be encouraged. Other crooks will be rade aware of the chance of easy pickings. The drivers themselves will be demoralized and more ready to listen to temptation.
Too often forgotten is the fact that theft, like murder, will out. Both operators and drivers have their " grapevine" which often provides them with information well in advance of its official release. Rumours of enormous hauls by phantom gangs are merely magnified by lack of confirmation. It might almost seem that the idea of saying nothing about them has been assiduously put around by the thieves themselves, with the purpose of convincing operators that the theft of an occasional load is as inevitable as it is mysterious, the work of gremlins.
A spirit of resignation among his victims must be the ideal at which every criminal aims. It may lead vehicle operators to the even more extraordinary conclusion that the cost of security would not be .justified in comparison with the cost of the thefts. Behind this assumption is the reasoning that the insurance companies would ultimately have to cover the loss. Apart from the dubious moral aspect, there are obvious flaws in this argument. If the operator is a haulier, the loss of a load can hardly make him popular with his customers, so that the ultimate entry on the debit side may represent far more than the intrinsic value of the load. An even greater difficulty is that the carrier who loses too many consignments will in the end discover that his insurance premium has become prohibitive or even unattainable.
IT is notorious that operators in general are already having to pay more for their goods-in-transit insurance. Underwriters are beginning to impose conditions that are obviously prompted by the rise in the number of thefts. Sometimes the operator is told that he must fit an acceptable device that will enable his vehicle to be immobilized. There has also been a fairly widespread refusal to cover goods left unattended within 20 miles of Charing Cross.
The situation is serious but need not be regarded as desperate. Operators who have been prepared to spend a good deal of time, and perhaps also a certain amount of money, have established their own systems of security and have proved that they work, even if the proof is no more than a dramatic drop in the volume of losses. As far as one can tell, the secret lies in cultivating the correct attitude of mind towards the two main elements in the problem, the vehicle and the driver.
When the vehicle is not actually on a journey, the aim is to keep it in a place where it is difficult for a thief to penetrate. Where the vehicle has to be left unattended, as may well happen several times during a trip, the thief who tries to get in or to drive away should have as many obstacles put in his way as possible. In addition, the sensible operator will do all he can to limit the number of opportunities for the thief and the vehicle to be left together without interruption.
There are a few dishonest drivers. Their number can be easily exaggerated, in the same way as the public tend to overestimate the number of vehicles emitting black smoke. With the right system and the right attitude of mind, the operator should be able to ensure that he is not employing men who have already broken the law. He knows that his drivers are basically honest and his main concern is to keep unnecessary temptation away from them. His system must involve a series of checks, a regular drill that the driver is instructed to follow and that he will depart from for only one of two reasons--negligence or• dishonesty. A satisfactory explanation must he forthcoming when the error is detected on checking..