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42 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, February 25, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classifieds Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend February 2, 2005 Experts say construction site thieves go where the equipment is, which should make the Rogue Valley site like this one off Hillcrest Drive in Medford prime hunting ground for major thefts. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Equipment thefts frustrate construction crews By GREG STILES Mail Tribune While working on a Pacific Power pipeline project near Prospect, S&B James Construction relied on a small four-wheel drive vehicle to cart a generator from place to place. The nimble Gator was perfect for the six-day-a-week job in the timbered Cascade foothills. It was also the perfect target for thieves on the company’s day of rest. "It was a perfect dune-buggy type of thing that could carry two guys and their tools that we had leased for the job," S&B James Construction President Tom Hall says. One weekend, the four-wheeler disappeared. Two weeks later it was found ditched on the side of an abandoned logging road. "It was damaged a little bit and the generator was gone," Hall says. "But we got it back." Advertisement A few days later, a weekend inspector caught two kids taking off with the Gator for another joy ride. "Isolated construction sites are great targets," Hall says. Construction sites don’t necessarily need to be out of the way to be targeted by criminals. Equipment theft is a continual bane of contractors’ existence. The National Equipment Register, a New York firm that analyzes heavy equipment theft reports and Insurance Services Office statistics, sent its 2004 findings to police agencies, clients and the media on Monday. NER has a database of more than 70,000 reported thefts. There were 4,973 theft reports submitted to the NER in 2004 with the value of lost equipment nearing a billion dollars. About 10 percent of the equipment is recovered. Texas, North Carolina, California, Florida and Pennsylvania topped the 2004 list. "Where there is a higher level of construction activity, there is an increase in the need for heavy equipment," says Glen Sider, NER operations manager. "The career criminal benefits from the increased construction as it creates a larger inventory of machines available to steal from." While Oregon ranked No. 34 out of the 50 states in 2004, down from No. 30 in 2003 in frequency of thefts, anecdotal accounts indicate thieves are an ever-present concern. The short list of major construction players in the Rogue Valley reduces the chances of theft. "Word would travel fast in a small valley like this, so it would be very difficult for someone to take off with a Cat, loader or excavator — they’re pretty visible," Batzer Construction President Russ Batzer says. "You couldn’t sell something like that without proving title." A collection of so-called yellow iron — ranging from bulldozers and forklifts to graders and backhoes — easily runs into several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Local contractors and out-of-town companies haven’t had much to worry about in recent years, primarily because they play it safe. "The yellow iron we use for excavation, we’ve never had an issue with theft," Batzer says. "But with small tools, if they’re not tied down, they’re gone the next morning." He says one unmarked flatbed trailer, worth a couple thousand dollars, was stolen in 2004. "Someone pulled up to a work site in Grants Pass, hooked it up and drove off over a weekend," Batzer says. "It’s pretty hard to distinguish one flatbed from another." The bigger issue for local contractors are on-site storage trailers and shacks. "You leave the job shack open, or someone breaks in, and it’s gone," says Batzer, who pins much of such thefts on "people with meth-related issues." Adroit Construction Chief Executive Officer Bob Mayers isn’t sure what motivated thieves to break into an equipment trailer twice in the past three months at Phoenix High School, where his company is building a new weight room. A Hilti roto-hammer and a table saw, valued at about $500 apiece, were taken. "The dead bolts on the trailer looked like they were not broken," Mayers says. "So I’m curious if someone new the combination of the lock, or if there was someone on the site previously or knew how to get into the job trailer." Adroit has gone so far as to lock equipment in boxes inside the trailers to thwart thieves. Equipment is generally marked and serial numbers recorded, so they can be passed along to equipment companies in case a thief tries to unload the goods. With locks not providing much protection, Hall’s operation has gone a step further. When the day’s operations end, a forklift is parked in front of the equipment trailer door. "You can’t get to the door to get into the job trailer unless you move the forklift," James says. "They were taking the hinges off the door or cutting off the locks. The trailer locks were complicated, but they were finding a way to break in." Bill Maibusch, DPR Construction Inc.’s senior project manager for Rogue Valley Medical Center’s expansion, says a perimeter fence and Asante Health System’s security have prevented thefts and vandalism there. "Nothing of value is left out at night, even to the point of folding up extension cords at night," Maibusch says. "That prevents hassles later on." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress Advertisement s