Building Better Site Security To Stop Theft
The Age
Saturday January 19, 2002
THEFT from residential building sites is adding millions of dollars annually to the cost of new homes across the metropolitan area.
Insurance company sources estimate that building site theft accounts for up to 85 per cent of claims by builders. Despite rising levels of payouts, much of the problem is believed to go unreported either because the value of materials taken is below the excess on policies or because builders want to protect their claims record.
Geoff Miller, Housing Industry Association (HIA) insurance services manager, says theft is escalating at a frightening rate with materials, tools, fittings, appliances and even builders' portable toilets regularly disappearing.
An HIA working party was established last year to start addressing the issue and Mr Miller says likely recommendations will include raising community awareness of the problem, encouraging better site security and risk management practices among builders and calling for the conviction of people caught taking items from sites.
In the outer south-eastern municipality of Casey, the local council is already one step ahead.
It has used a $26,000 grant from the State Government's Safer Communities Fund to employ a former London police inspector part-time to develop strategies to address the problem.
Ken Lee is working with builders, local police, community groups, the HIA and crime prevention organisations. He believes the public needs to be alert in reporting incidents of materials being removed from building sites, especially at night.
Builders need to do more to limit opportunities for theft through better coordination of delivery and installation times, improving site security and investigating advances in product marking techniques.
Casey's community safety officer, Melanie Sanders, says a new house is completed in the municipality every hour of the working week.
She hopes Mr Lee's efforts will result in a set of strategies that will reduce building site crime in the Narre Warren and Cranbourne areas and help other outer metropolitan communities grapple with the same problem.
``I think this sort of theft has always happened to some extent but because we have about 40 houses a week completed in semi-rural areas, the opportunity for things to go missing is very big. We don't want people to have this as their first experience of Casey," Ms Sanders says.
Limiting opportunity is where Mr Lee believes efforts to minimise crime should begin.
``Three components contribute to a high risk of theft - desire, motive and opportunity. I believe that at the moment the majority of thieves operating on these building sites have a high level of comfort. No one worries about it, no one bothers to look, no one follows up. What we have to do is take away that comfort zone," he says.
And he is confident of plenty of support. Building and development companies, industry associations and insurers are all taking a keen interest in his work.
At a local level, the Safer Casey Management Committee, with representatives drawn from the council, police, emergency services, VicRoads and resident groups are also enthusiastic.
``Ten years ago if you asked people who is responsible for preventing crime, 70 to 80 per cent would say the police. Now if you ask the question, people will say it is everyone's role - there should be a community approach," he says.
Mr Lee began his part-time work at Casey in August. Since retiring from the City of London Police as an inspector with 30 years' service, he has worked as a security consultant and trainer in New Zealand and Australia.
A trained bodyguard and protection officer, he has worked on VIP protection and in the late '80s commanded a tactical firearms team. He was responsible for the planning and deployment of armed officers involved in providing security for state occasions, accompanying high-risk prisoners and guarding London's Old Bailey Crown Court.
In 1987, he was trained in counter-terrorist search operations and, until his retirement, was engaged in anti-terrorist activities in London.
As head of crime prevention at Bishopsgate Police Station he worked closely with residents, retailers and businesses.
When he saw the Casey job advertised in a local newspaper he decided it would be another challenge. While he says gaining familiarity with the building industry is new, the application of crime prevention techniques are as relevant on building sites as elsewhere. ``When I speak to people about the problem there seem to have been some efforts to counter it but nothing coordinated," he says.
Getting the building industry involved is critical. ``There seems to be a widespread acknowledgement that a lot of the problem is within the industry itself. Often appliances and materials are stolen within 24 hours of going on site.
``In a lot of cases the property has a home waiting for it - the items stolen are very specific - in one recent case it was 12 left-hand opening doors. It can be windows, tiles, occasionally bricks and, as the building progresses, fittings - doors, locks, switches and hot water tanks."
Mr Miller describes the Casey project as an excellent idea. ``Building site theft has reached a frightening level. It is not so much an epidemic as endemic. Around 85 per cent of all claims paid to our clients relate to thefts from sites. It runs into millions of dollars," he says.
He agrees with Mr Lee that a mix of better risk management and public education is needed. ``Things don't only just disappear from isolated sites, they go from in-fill developments too. Neighbours hear a truck at night and think it is just the builder but builders don't usually work at night," he says.
Publicising the issue is likely to be one of a number of recommendations Mr Lee will be making at Casey.
He says residents, casual observers and people working on sites need to be encouraged to report suspicious activity. He is working with local police to develop an effective system for members of the public to report unusual incidents.
He also hopes to help builders manage the risk of theft more successfully.
Unkempt sites, he says, attract unwanted attention and builders should do more to coordinate the delivery and installation of materials and appliances to minimise the time when they can be easily removed.
Careful fixing of fittings and appliances can also make them harder to shift and narrow the window of opportunity for theft.
© 2002 The Age
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