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Crime fighters abroad
Page 22
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Operators might think that rising truck crime is a UK problem but Vark Schwarz, Eurovvatch's commercial director, says it's at least as bad on the far side of the Channel. Jennifer Ball reports.
Somewhere in Europe a truck crime is committed every two minutes, and the problem is likely to worsen in line with international trade following the expansion of the European Union. It was this realisation that led former lawyer Mark Schwarz to set up the pan-European security service Eurowatch.
Just over two years ago Schwarz was working for TRI-MEX International, which specialises in electronic protection services for cargo owners and is now Eurowatch's holding company Having developed risk management technology for operators, the TRI-MEX team realised how critical the police response was to fighting truck crime.
He explains: "A number of clients said to us that while the GPS system would enable them to know where their driver was located. whether it be Poland or Germany, and would enable him to alert them if he was in trouble. The chances of getting the local police force to assist was zero.
Fighting crime
"We had already built a police network across Europe and realised that developing this further would be a fantastic way forward for the haulage industry to fight crime, so Eurowatch was developed."
Two years down the line the pan-European security service has 13,000 subscribers, The system enables subscribers, who might have had their load or truck stolen, to call a single phone number where information can be cornmunicated in any European language. This removes the communication difficulties drivers have in contacting police in a foreign country.
The service works through a central website and has a 24/7 network of police-accredited national service providers in each of the 29 countries involved. Schwarz reckons the system enables the police to respond to incidents all over Europe in a matter of minutes rather than hours: "One of the problems UK police have found is that if a foreign operator was the victim of crime it was taking around four hours for the alarm message to get to the right policeman in the right area and in the correct language. But this is three-and-a-half hours too late.
"If you can't do anything in 20 minutes the load has gone. This service means they can ring us and the details of the incident will be logged and forwarded to the police in the right country.
Eurowatch's new website acts as a window for the police to see what's going on across the Eurowatch network. Companies can use the site to log pictures of their vehicles and drivers so if their driver is a victim of crime the police forces across Europe have immediate identification of his truck and its load.
But it's not only international hauliers who are using the security service — many domestic operators have also signed up amid a rise in UK truck crime.
"UK operators realise that while they can contact the police through the public emergency number they can't show them pictures of the vehicles and loads," Schwarz explains.
"But we can relay this information in real time via the web, which is valuable in trying to trace the perpetrators quickly.We also sponsor the Metropolitan police's freight crime unit TruckPol and have a link to similar organisations in France and Spain so we can share information."
Schwarz says insurers are now trying to find ways for security to be paid for from insurance premiums. Some shippers are even paying for a company that carries the ir goods on a regular basis to have security services,such as Eurowatch.
The service is not restricted to a phone call to the police_ Eurowatch stays closely involved throughout the investigation process until the load has been recovered or the police have closed the case.
In addition, its GlobalMonitor system ena bles a designated list of people to monitor progress and to locate the stolen freight and/or vehicle. They can continue to follow it in real time, and they can see what actions the various agencies are taking.
"We maintain contact with the client and tell them what is going on and provide the police with any assistance or data that we can," says Schwarz. "Once the driver, vehicle and cargo are safe we can fill in a driver incident report, send it back to the clients and offer services, such as recovery if appropriate."
Since its launch Eurowatch has recovered every single vehicle stolen from its subscribers and a cool €8rn worth of goods. One major success story was the hijacking of trucks trans porting dried fish from Scandinavia to Italy. "This was a major problem with around one truck a month carrying this cargo being hijacked," Schwarz reports. "It got so bad that insurers withdrew coverage and operators lost business.
"Eurowatch set up discussions with operators, insurers and the Italian police in an attempt to solve the problem and eventually we agreed a protocol with the Italian police, which meant that an e-mail would be sent to them alerting them to any vehicles coming into Italy that were carrying dried fish. This enabled them to keep an eye on these trucks. They would then receive another e-mail as the vehicle passed certain zones until it reached its depot.
A fish tale "The Italian police agreed to this and said if there was a suspicion of crime they could be contacted. Last week a driver was suspicious about a vehicle that had been following him. He phoned his base and Eurowatch worked as normal and the police attended him on the move and the following vehicle disappeared.This highlights how if there is a particular problem police forces can be willing to work with us. The Italian police haven't had a hijack of a truck carrying dried fish for over a year now."
Eurowatch can operate in any European country where has an adequate legal framework. Following the expansion of the EU it plans to move into western Russia,Turkey and the Balkans as there is more international trade passing through these areas.
Schwarz believes the key to cutting European truck crime is security and communication: "If you are a Dutch driver making a panic call in the middle of the night in Italy you don't stand a chance of getting any sort of dialogue with anyone. But we are recognised and highly regarded by the police as a source of verified, credible and sophisticated information, which means that they will respond to our calls.
"Moreover adopting such security services can also be a differentiator when operators are competing for business to carry high-value loads." • e Contact www.curowatchcentral.com;