The Industry Leader in Trailer Security

Theft victim ‘in limbo’

Posted: Monday, October 25, 2010 1:11 pm | Updated: 3:36 pm, Tue Oct 26, 2010.

By Judy Collis, News Editor

Jim Feeney is frustrated. Tracing a trailer he borrowed from a friend – then stolen while in Feeney’s possession – is turning out to be far more difficult than he imagined.

“The nightmare of losing a trailer to a thief is bad enough, but is even worse when the trailer was borrowed from your best friend,” Feeney told the Ledger. That friend loaned the 6- by 12-foot, black, single-axle utility trailer to transport Feeney’s mower so he could mow – for free – the yards of a neighbor with multiple sclerosis and that of an elderly woman who was hospitalized.

“On Sept. 26, I went to load up the trailer with my riding mower and other equipment, only to find it was not there,” Feeney said. “The trailer was parked overnight in a driveway in Broken Arrow and since my friend was nice enough to lend it, I decided to purchase him a hitch lock, which was in place the night of the theft. Evidently that did not phase whoever decided they needed to steal the trailer.”

Feeney’s obligation to find the trailer is pressing; he can’t afford the $1,200 it would take to replace it.

“I came up with an idea to put a sign in my yard offering a reward … It has amazed me just how many people either living in the neighborhood or just driving by have either stopped by to talk to me about it or have called with some possibilities,” he said. “One of the best leads I’ve had came via a phone call from a neighbor who had seen a story on the morning news … about a trailer thief ring in Tulsa that had been busted by the Tulsa Police Department, as well as Creek County law enforcement. The neighbor informed me the police were looking for the proper owners of the trailers and wanted people to call in.”

At first he was overjoyed at the possibility his friend’s trailer could be one of those recovered.

He called the Tulsa Police Department and was initially told the department had no way of tracking trailers and does “not keep records of them due to the fact that they do not have a VIN or tags on them.”

“After being passed around, I was finally told that since Storey Wrecker towed in the trailers, I should probably contact them and see if they had my friend’s trailer. But, all the trailers were placed in quarantine, pending investigation. Feeney’s request to at least look at the trailers to see if one of them was his friend’s led to another dead end.

Feeney also filed a report with the Broken Arrow Police Department when the trailer was stolen; after hearing about the Tulsa “bust,” he phoned the department and learned from the detective assigned to his case the BAPD was not sent a list with information about the recovered trailers and had no information on them.

“In the meantime, I am thinking about all the poor individuals who made their living with these trailers such as lawn and landscape companies,” Feeney said. “Unlike them, I did not have my mower on this trailer, but still stand to lose at least $1,200 for the trailer alone. I am just really frustrated about being in limbo and not knowing what I need to do.”

Staying ‘hooked up’ to your own trailer can be a challenge these days. Thieves with a listing on Craig’s List, auctions or just a simple “for sale” sign can separate you from your trailer – sometimes before it’s even missed if it is kept in a separate location from the home.

“Trailer theft has been a consistent problem for years,” said Maj. Carole Newell of the Broken Arrow Police Department. The major and Det. Daniel Hurst teamed up to provide insight to the problem for the Ledger.

Police say trailer owners have to plan ahead to protect their property, because the thieves generally are doing so.

“They drive through neighborhoods, business locations … find trailers that appear to them to be easy to steal, then they go back and steal them later, usually at night,” the major said. “They are items of opportunity that certain people, given the opportunity, would attempt to take … those that are not secured are the ones thieves target, especially if they are left in a front yard, or in a business parking lot overnight.”

Newell suggests putting trailers in a locked building, putting tongue locks on them, or chaining them – but that has proved ineffective in some circumstances.

“The next best course of action would be to put them behind a locked gate, preferably out of sight,” she said.

Trailers can be difficult to trace and recover because the vehicle identification number is typically on a separate piece of metal that is easily removed.

“In other words, it isn’t stamped on the tongue, but rather a separated welded piece,” she said. “The biggest issue with serial numbers is that owners don’t generally keep that information. Commercial trailers have to be tagged, but others used for non-commercial business use do not.

“We suggest that they keep the serial number information and then have it stamped or etched in several locations on the body of the trailer. Or they can pick another identifying number of their choice except a Social Security number, and etch/stamp it in various locations so that it can be identified if recovered,” Newell said.

Posted in News on Monday, October 25, 2010 1:11 pm. Updated: 3:36 pm.
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Trailer Theft Prevention

Here are several common risk factors and prevention measures
for owners to consider.

Often the thieves are simply stealing them and selling them
to pawnshops (several have turned up this way). Some are sold
unwittingly to law-abiding citizens, others are sold directly
to unscrupulous lawn/construction businesses, often with tools
still in them. There are many more avenues including using
them for mobile meth-labs and use by terrorists, but most are
simpler crimes.

The most common risk factor is that these trailers are almost
always plain white or black, usually completely unmarked. Most
commonly taken are the small enclosed utility trailers,
sometimes flat-bed or open car trailers, less often full-size
enclosed car- trailers, possibly due to registration/tag
requirements.

The stolen trailers are usually unattended at a jobsite or on
business premises after hours.

There are several theft prevention measures available from
tongue locks to chaining wheels, even a wheel lock available
from makers of The CLUB ($45 available from the Crime
Prevention office), but I think a major deterrent would be
marking the trailers in an obvious manor.

(1)  Store your trailer in a well lit area in full view ( a thief absolutely
hates open & well lit areas, he would much rather work in the dark & out of
sight ).

(2) You can have a steel fabricator weld your company name
or phone number onto an obvious part of the frame. It is
relatively inexpensive to do ($30-$75) and very time consuming
to remove.

Mark your trailer with an identifying mark in several places of the
trailer. You can use a number that only you will recognize at a
later date. A thief may find one or two of the numbers & remove
them, but probabily not all of them, so be creative in the location
you put the I.D. numbers. I recommend stamping this number into the
frame of the trailer in several spots & mark down where you stamp
the numbers.(The Police love to have this information!)

(3) You can also mark trailers with special paint-jobs, decals, or
lettering. Many owners are reluctant to so as not to attract
thieves to the contents. Sometimes owners trade out trailers
often and want to make them easier to re-sell. These are
valid concerns so the circumstances should be considered, but
by making these obvious markings, it makes it much more likely
a thief will be found out while still in possession, less
likely he could sell it, and consequently serves as a major
deterrent to taking it in the first place.

If you are considering decals, I would recommend 3M Scotchlite
reflective decals like used on emergency vehicles. These decals
are extremely difficult to remove, come off in little tiny chips,
and will always leave a residual ghost image.

(4) Spray-paint your name/phone number on the INSIDE in big,
bright fluorescent paint. A buyer would see it and it would be
hard to paint over because often florescents bleed through other
paints.

(5) Obtain state license plates for the trailer. This may cost
a few dollars but a thief would recognize he would be at higher
risk of being discovered due to paperwork involved in trying to
sell it and the fact that its serial/VIN numbers are definitely
on record (Imagine how much car theft would occur if cars were
not required to be registered).

(6) One of the best theft prevention methods used to protect your
trailer and contents is the Steal Shield Coupler Lock. This
coupler lock is constructed of heavy duty steel and has a very
high quality 7 pin lock. It projects an imposing image of security
and is available for most couplers used on trailers today.

It is very effective and can be used alone, or with any of the
theft prevention tips listed in this article. Interviews with
criminals reveal two very important facts that they espescially
hate to deal with.

Firstly, they hate to make a lot of noise and draw attention to
themselves.

Secondly, they hate to have to spend a lot of time at the scene
which would increase the chance of them being caught or recognized.
That is why the Steal Shield was designed and constructed like it
is. Trying to remove the Steal Shield by force is almost impossible
and will make a lot of noise, drawing attention to themselves.

In addition, the thief will be forced to stand at the front of the
trailer, fully exposed to view, while attempting to remove or break
the Steal Shield off the coupler, thus risking somebody seeing and
being able to identify them. The Steal Shield Coupler Lock, because
of its superior design, quality, and function, is the industry
standard.

Billy D