NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 • VOLUME 23, NO. 3
PICTURED
NEWLY ELECTED:
IAATI PRESIDENT J.D. HOUGH PAGE 4
SEMINAR COVERAGE PAGE 8
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUTO THEFT INVESTIGATORS
2017 Autoo Theft e t Training a Seminars
Submitted by Past Pres. Denny Roske
Training is one of the most important areas that we as auto theft investigators need to continually seek out. With the trends in auto theft changing on a daily basis, we need to stay on top of these new developments that can assist us with prevention, identification, investigation, and prosecution. If you know of any other auto theft courses that are being offered, please contact me at: iaatidenny@aol.com IAATI will also post course announcements on our web site & the IAATI e-news during the year. Always check the IAATI web site for training information at: iaati.org The following auto theft training courses are being offered at this time:
NATIONAL INSURANCE CRIME BUREAU When: Continuous Where: www.NICBTraining.org Info: (NICB) on line training web site, click on: courses SOUTH CENTRAL CHAPTER & TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF VEHICLE THEFT INVES. When: Oct. 24th – 27th Where: Dallas, Texas Info: Bill Skinner bskinner4309@gmail.com EUROPEAN BRANCH When: Oct. 25th -27th Where: Prague, Czech Republic Info: Davy Borysiewcz davy.borysiewicz@baloise.be MIAMI DADE POLICE DEPTAERTMENT AUTO THEFT SYMPOSIUM When: Nov. 5th – 10th Where: Miami, Florida Info: Ana Jorge, ajorge@mdpd.com
2018 FLORIDA AUTO THEFT INTELLIGENCE UNIT When: Jan. 11th-12th Where: Ocala, FL Info: Sheri Taynor secretary@seiaati.org AUSTRALASIAN BRANCH SEMINAR When: Mar. 19th – 21st Where: Brisbane, Australia Info: Mark Pollard admin@fireinvestigation.com.au
APB
THE
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUTO THEFT INVESTIGATORS Established and Chartered Since 1952
November/December 2017 • Volume 23, No. 3 2016-17 OFFICERS PRESIDENT James (J.D.) D. Hough LOJACK Arizona DPS (RET’D) Gilbert, AZ 602-725-7625 jdhough@iaati.org FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT William Henry Johnson Arvada Colorado Police Dept Arvada, CO 720-898-6746 whjohnson@iaati.org SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT Marthinus H Odendal Zonke-Unicode South African Police Service Johannesburg, Gauteng Todendal@Iaati.org THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT Paul D. Thomas Cars Project Adelaide, SA 08-8207 1669 pthomas@iaati.org FOURTH VICE-PRESIDENT Brad Anderson Donegal Mutual Ins Lancaster (PA) PD, Marietta, PA 717-426-1931 TREASURER Robert C. Hasbrouck Port Authority of NY & NJ PD (718) 630-4512 rchasbrouck@iaati.org EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR John V. Abounader NYState DMV Auto Theft (315) 853-1913 jvabounader@iaati.org
EXECUTIVE BOARD DIRECTORS ANA LAURA BRIZUELA Auxiliar Letrado En Juzgado Buenos Aires, N/A 0054 11 3910 8454 analaurabrizuela@iaati.org DANIEL T. NEL Tracker Network SA Police Service Pretoria, Gaueng 27-11-380-0348 dnel@iaati.org DAVID J.A. NORTHEY Retainagroup Ltd. Luton, N/A +44 1582 411566 davidn@Iaati.org PHILIP OPPERMAN Recoveri, Edenvale, Gauteng +2711 453 0868 philip@iaati.org REGINALD PHILLIPS VRSS; Phillips Security Brantford, ON 519-756-8536 regphillips@iaati.org
BARBARA A. RAMBO National Insurance Crime Bureau Park Forest, IL 708-243-6165 brambo@iaati.org WALTER ROBINSON Palm Beach (FL) S.O. West Palm Beach, FL 561-688-6231 wrobinson@iaati.org RENATO SCHIPANI Interpol Lyon, Lyon, N/A +33472445738 rschipani@iaati.org DANNY L. SHEPPARD Galveston Co (Tx) ACTF Dickinson, TX 409-766-4500 Dsheppard@Iaati.org RICHARD SPALLINGER National Insurance Crime Bureau Cortaro, AZ 520-940-8831 Rspallinger@Iaati.org
A S S O C I AT E D I R E C T O R S FRANK N. CRUZ National Insurance Crime Bureau Tucson, AZ 520-940-2713 fcruz@iaati.org ARNE KNIPPEL Danish Insurance Association Hellerup, N/A +45-41919191 akn@fogp.dk ANNA KOTSOVOS National Insurance Crime Bureau Des Plaines, IL 847-544-7162 akotsovos@iaati.org MICHELLE R. LANHAM Orion Communications, Inc Reduce Auto Theft In Texas Task Force Dallas, TX mlanham@Iaati.org JORGE OMAR NASRALA Dean Funes 2200 ING. Maschwitz, BS AS jnasrala@iaati.org SHERI L. TAYNOR Coban Technology FL DMV, Retired, Edgewater, FL staynor@iaati.org JARI TIAINEN National Bureau Of Investigtion Vantaa, N/A 00358295486265 Iaati0135@iaati.org VINCENT WISE Datatag Id Ltd Egham, SURREY United Kingdom +441784778310 vwise@iaati.org CARLOS ALBERTO ETANCUR RUIZ Vodafone Automotive Brasil Sao Paulo, Brazil +55113164-8139 cabetancurruiz@iaati.org
DI R EC TO R O F M A R K E TI N G CARMEN SWANSON cswanson@iaati.org
LEGAL ADVISORS KEVIN P. MCHUGH kmchugh@iaati.org JOHN P. O’BYRNE jobyrne@iaati.org
CHAPTER/BRANCH PRESIDENTS Australasian Branch President MARK POLLARD Fire Investigation, Risk & Enquiry Services P/L South Australia Police, Collinswood, SA 088342 5871 Mpollard@iaati.org European Branch President JARI TIAINEN National Bureau Of Investigtion Vantaa, N/A 00358295486265 Iaati0135@iaati.org Latin American Branch President DANIEL BECK LOJACK. Buenos Aires, N/A +541147118813 dbeck@iaati.org South Africa Branch President MOTSAMAI MOLLO NAAMSA Pretoria,GAUTENG South Africa +27 12-842-2994 mmollo@iaati.org United Kingdom Branch President MIKE BRIGGS VSST Ltd. Bershire, UK +44 (0) 7785778550 mbriggs@iaati.org North Central Regional Chapter President SKIP COPELAND Indianapolis (In) Metro P D Indianapolis, 317-327-2685 scopeland@iaati.org North East Chapter President JOSEPH GUIDICE NYPD Department, Auto Crimes Queens Village, NY 718-217-8486 jguidice@iaati.org South Central Regional Chapter President PETER OLIVARES EL PASO El Paso, TX 915-298-9600 psolivares@iaati.org South East Regional Chapter President HENRY BECK Lojack Corporation Wellford, South Carolina USA 864-809-7310 hbeck@iaati.org Western Regional Chapter President MICHAEL O’NEILL Hagerty Insurance South Pasadena , California USA 800-922-4050 moneill@iaati.org
CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
1
IAATI BUSINESS
POP QUIZ
THIS ISSUE’S QUESTION: TRUE OR FALSE: According to the NICB, the recovery rate for stolen construction and heavy equipment is higher than the recovery rate of conventional vehicles. The answer can be found further in this issue, in Melissa Somers’ Construction Equipment Theft
AWARDS IAATI Award of Merit To honor a person, group, department or company for outstanding contribution in the area of vehicle theft investigation or prevention. IAATI Insurance Investigator of the Year To recognize and honor an insurance professional for outstanding contribution in vehicle theft or insurance fraud investigation Raymond H. Dreher Memorial Award To IAATI members who have distinguished themselves by service to the association. NICB Award of Excellence To recognize any law enforcement person(s), unit or department, who have distinguished themselves in area of vehicle theft investigations, making a significant impact involving dismantlement and prosecution of a vehicle theft ring or chop shop. IAATI Heavy Equipment Award
IAATI AWARD YOUR Auto Theft Team Here for outstanding contribution to vehicle theft prevention or investigation From the Members of IAATI
To honor any person who has in some way distinguished themselves in the field of off-road (farm and construction) equipment investigation / recovery.
IAATI Component Parts Markings Award To honor any person or unit who has in some way distinguished themselves in vehicle theft investigations where VIN labels or micro-dot technology played a significant part of the success of the investigation. 2
THE APB
APB
THE
Editor Stephen E. Gobby apb@iaati.org Managing Editor Phil J. Crepeau pcrepeau@iaati.org
Contents November/December 2017 • Volume 23, No. 3 FEATURES
CONTENTS Awards
2
In Memoriam of Charlie Banks
6
In Memory of Charlie Banks By Sheri Taynor
6
Reflections: 65th International Annual Training Seminar: Cape Town
22
LoJack Award SEIAATI 2017 Conference
25
The Dave Dempsey Presidents Award
25
Editors Emeriti James J. Spanel W.E. Rutledge
A Word of Thanks from Past President Hans Kooijman
7
2017 SEIAATI Award Of Merit
26
Seminar Coverage
8
2017 SERC Certificates of Merit
27
Publisher Durham Publication, Inc. robert@durhampublication.com
Cape Town Crew Makes IAATI’s 65th a Seminar to Remember By Stephen Gobby
2017 SERC Corporate Sponsors
28
8
2nd Annual Training Seminar LATAM Branch
31
Lee S. Cole Officer of the Year Award
34
The Designer Jerry Greiner jerry@jerrygreiner.com The APB is the official publication of The International Association of Auto Theft Investigators and is published three times each year: in March, July and November. The International Association of Auto Theft Investigators is a certified NON-PROFIT ASSOCIATION and is sanctioned as such by the United States Internal Revenue Service. The International Association of Auto Theft Investigators was first chartered in 1952. The APB is an educational and advisory aid to members of law enforcement, companies and organizations who are working to suppress the crime of auto theft and related offences, and to assist them in raising the level of expertise in auto theft investigation. Articles herein express the views and opinions of the authors, and are not necessarily representative of the views and opinions of The International Association of Auto Theft Investigators or the publisher of The APB. The APB, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 is published by Durham Publication, Inc. (© 2017) and by The International Association of Auto Theft Investigators. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE. No portion of this publication, neither ads nor text may be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part without the expressed written permission of The International Association of Auto Theft Investigators or Durham Publication, Inc. (robert@durhampublication.com). NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
2017 IAATI Award of Merit Winner By Reg Phillips
14
WRC-IAATI Executive Board Achievement of Excellence Award 34
2017 IAATI Insurance Investigator of the Year By Brad Anderson
15
A New Initiative – Recognition of Years of Service By Paul Thomas
16
Construction Equipment Theft-Cooperation, Communication Your Keys To Combating Construction Crime 36 By Melissa Somers
17
The Times, They Are A Changing By Bill Johnson
Raymond W. Dreher Award Committee Seeks Submissions for 2018 By Denny Roske
17
ARIZONA Auto Theft & Insurance Fraud Seminar By Ann Armstrong
40
Nick Mayell Winner of IAATI’s Heavy Equipment Award By Rusty Russell
18
WRC- IAATI Annual Board Meeting and AATIA Conference 2017 By John Bartalone
42
20
The Sunset Review By Bill Johnson
IAATI Directors Award 2017 By Danny Sheppard
President’s Message By Detective Joe Guidice Northeast IAATI President Hosts Get-Together in Cape Town
20
37
44
If You Knew Where Auto Theft Ended, Would You Start Locking Your Car?
45
Welcome George H. Baker to the Global Safety Center
47
DEPARTMENTS IAATI Business
6
LATAM Chapter News
30
Seminar Coverage
8
Western Regional Chapter News
34
North East Regional Chapter News
20
ATPA News
44
Southern African Branch
22
European Branch News
44
South East Regional Chapter News
24
Industry News
47 3
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 2 0 1 7 / 2 0 1 8
I A AT I
P R E S I D E N T
J.D. HOUGH LOJACK, Arizona DPS (Retired)
IPresident. I would first like to recognize the Southt is a great honor to serve as the 2017/2018 IAATI
ern African Branch and the 65th seminar committee for the very impressive seminar that was put together in Cape Town. It was one of the best seminars that I have attended since becoming an IAATI member fifteen years ago. It was a privilege to be sworn in as the IAATI President at this conference. The hospitality by the South Africa Branch was second to none. Thank you all for the outstanding job. Next I would like to thank Hans Kooijman for the dedication and time he spent this past year representing IAATI. It is the commitment by Hans and all the past Presidents that has made IAATI what it is today. It is my goal to continue the tradition and keep IAATI moving in the right direction. I would also like to recognize and thank the IAATI Executive Board and committee members that have volunteered to do the job. The teamwork has been very impressive during the past several years. The committees have been very active and meeting the goals set by the committee chairman. IAATI is here to support the Chapter/Branches and provide the best training available to its members. To accomplish this goal we need to support each other and share resources. Seek out training grants to meet the needs of the members in your areas. Work with your agencies to host training and request professional instructors that IAATI has to offer. The IAATI Membership Committee has been working hard to increase IAATI membership. Each of us should actively be recruiting new members in our areas. The Membership Committee will soon be coming out with incentives to IAATI members that recruit new members. In the United States the Auto Theft Prevention Authorities (ATPA) have taken some big hits in funding these past few years. The IAATI ATPA committee and subcommittees have been busy trying to combat the legislative changes that use the dedicated auto theft funds for other budget items.
4
Many agencies have downsized auto theft squads as a cost saving measure. I ask all of you to support the ATPAs and get involved to assist with the legislative issues in your areas. During this past year IAATI launched the new website that was overdue. The I.T. committee spent numerous hours preparing for this website launch and continues to work on it. This year we hope to complete phase II, which will provide a website access to each Chapter and Branch. I encourage all of the IAATI members to take advantage of the new website. Signing in as an IAATI member will give you access to training opportunities, events, and other resources. Please take the time to register and explore the website. I ask each of you, as an IAATI member, to get involved in your local auto theft association, Chapter/ Branch, or one of the IAATI committees. There is a lot of expertise and knowledge among the members that can be shared with others. Network and meet new people at the seminars. Reach out and assist the new IAATI members you meet. IAATI is a family and we need to support each other. One of my goals is to keep members year to year while recruiting new members. If you have any suggestions or want to get involved please reach out to your Chapter/Branch President or send me an email. After thirty two years in law enforcement, I retired from the Arizona Department of Public Safety. My last ten years were spent supervising a task force auto theft squad. I am currently employed as the Law Enforcement Liaison for LoJack in Arizona. I served on the Western Regional Chapter Board for several years and was WRC President. I also served as President of the Arizona Auto Theft Investigators Association for seven years. I look forward to the next year as your IAATI President. As stated earlier, this is a family and teamwork is what keeps us moving forward. Get involved and be active. Thank you all for your support. â–
THE APB
FROM THE EDITOR T H E
A P B
E D I TO R
STEPHEN GOBBY APB@IAATI.ORG
WELCOME, DEAR READER, TO THE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 EDITION OF THE APB. OUR COVER
A
s is our tradition in the APB, the November/December issue always carries the photo of our new president. This year, it is JD Hough. JD was a police officer and auto theft investigator for a great many years in Arizona and he now spends his days as law enforcement liaison with the Lojack Corporation. JD is a hard-working and dedicated individual in addition to being a friendly and out-going person. I have had the opportunity over the past several J.D. Hough years to get to know him and work with him on various committees. I know he will do an outstanding job as our president. On the same occasion, we say farewell to Hans Kooijman who leaves the presidency but isn’t really going anywhere. Hans now joins the ranks of the past presidents many of whom play an active role on the IAATI executive board. Congratulations Hans on a great year and for your good humor during your tenure. I look forward to working with you for many years to come. Hans Kooijman
IAATI’S 65TH ANNUAL TRAINING SEMINAR IN CAPE TOWN If you were among the fortunate few to be in attendance at our 65th annual seminar in Cape Town you know what a great show the Southern African Branch put on. It was a professional event from the first day of registration right up until the closing ceremonies. We owe a great debt of thanks and congratulations to the whole on-site committee but I would like to single out our 2nd VP Tinus Odendal & SAB Past Presidents Gerald Davis and Daan Nel. Amazing job, folks. Thanks to you and your team! Please check out our full photo coverage of this seminar further in this issue.
AUTO THEFT PREVENTION AUTHORITIES ATPAs figure highly in the membership component of IAATI. We have members who work directly for ATPAs or are subsidized by them and we have many members who attend IAATI training under the auspices of their state ATPA. We have two excellent articles in this issue about ATPAs. One is from Robert Force, Executive Director of the Colorado ATPA. The second is from our own 1st VP, Bill Johnson. Bill writes about the State of Colorado’s Sunset Review policy. Both are interesting reading. I would like to invite members of other ATPAs to share some of their stories, situations and successes. Your stories would be most welcome.
UNTIL NEXT TIME We have much fine reading from around the globe in this issue so best get to it. Our next issue comes out in April/May 2018 and the deadline for submissions is January 15. Until then… happy reading! Steve apb@iaati.org
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
5
IAATI BUSINESS
IN MEMORIAM
CHARLIE BANKS (1937-2017)
Dderdale, Florida and of the Rio Vista
etective Charles D. Banks, of Fort Lau-
community died on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at the Florida Medical Center with his wife Ann at his side. He was 80 years old. Charlie was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, a son to the late Raymond and Hazel Walters Banks. After graduating high school Charlie went on to serve his country by joining the United States Army from 1955-1961. Just a brief time following his discharge from the Army, Charlie began what would become the most important thing in his life next to his wife and family: he was sworn in as police officer with the City of Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Charlie joined the department August 22, 1962 and while there he became known as “Auto-Theft Charlie,” due to the commitment he brought to help run the auto-theft division of the department. He and his good friend, the late Ziggy Zablocki, at the time with Broward Sheriff’s Office, were instrumental in getting a state unit put together which became known as Florida Auto-Theft Intelligence Unit (FATIU). Charlie retired from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department on March 1, 1988 with 25 and half years with the force. Following his retirement, he found a new love, although, nothing like what he had for the police department. This time it was clocks.
Charlie became an avid collector of clocks and had amassed thousands of clocks over the years and became a member of National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC). He was also a very proud member of the F.O.P. (Fraternal Order of Police) lodge #31. In addition to his time with the police department and time spent with FATIU and later with clock collecting, Charlie somehow managed to find time to become and stay active in IAATI where he held several positions within the organization including President of the Southeast Regional Chapter (SERC) from 1982-83. In recognition of years of service to IAATI and to the SERC, Charlie was awarded the IAATI Directors’ Award in 1998. In 1987, Charlie was the recipient of the Raymond H. Dreher Award. In 2013, Charlie received the SERC’s Lifetime Achievement Award. For those of us who have been attending IAATI seminars for many years, we will remember Charlie as the smiling face that greeted us at the hospitality suite. During his years of service to IAATI, Charlie was almost always accompanied by his wife Ann. Charlie leaves to cherish his memory his wife of 34 years, Annis “Ann” McDonald Banks; son and daughter-in-law, Joey and Meredith Ragas, of Louisiana; granddaughter, Katelyn Roberds, of Georgia;
brother, Ronald Banks; very special friends, Angela and David Berman of Davie, Florida and Linda Dunbar Orgain and several other relatives and friends. ■ Services for Charlie were held on Sunday July 23 following which, he was escorted by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department to the Evergreen Cemetery.
IN MEMORY OF CHARLIE BANKS By Sheri Taynor
Tones who leave an impression or ones who teach you the most here are a certain few individuals who come into your life,
valuable life lessons that you need to succeed. Charlie Banks was one of those individuals and not just in my life, but in so many 6
others’ lives as well! He passed on his knowledge of auto theft and vehicle identification locations. But, more importantly, he taught me about life. He was an ear that listened and passed on advice, with so many years of experience behind him. THE APB
IAATI PRESIDENT - J.D. HOUGH
When I first joined the IAATI, Charlie and Ann Banks were one of the first ones I migrated to at my first conference. I had met them at the FL Auto Theft Intelligence Unit meetings but IAATI was a lot larger and I didn’t know too many folks yet. The two of them were running the hospitality suite for the Southeast Chapter, and running it without slowing down. Charlie was the bartender and Ann was the room keeper! I spent a lot of time with both over the years and what I learned was that Charlie was a retired Detective from Fort Lauderdale Police Department and that he had a vast amount of knowledge to share with all of us, and that he was one of the most involved members of IAATI that I have met, EVER. As former President of SE IAATI, Charlie had been an integral part of the organization from its beginning. He never missed a meeting and always had a voice when it came time to make decisions. Both Charlie and Ann were at registration in the morning, ready to work and then finished out the night holding down the fort in the hospitality room. I valued his opinion
as did so many others, and his reasons why he felt the way he did. Charlie was very vocal for one reason; the group was his heart! Though he retired many years earlier, Charlie stayed involved because he loved our chapter, and the members. Because of his input, many of our traditions have stayed valuable and continue to be passed down to newer members when they join. Charlie and Ann were able to join us at our conference this past June and though his health had declined, the huge smile on his face when he saw one of his friends is the best thing I will remember about him. Sadly, Charlie passed away one month later and I am hoping that the memories we all stirred up in him were enough to keep him happy until the end. We are so thankful that we were able to see the two of the together, in an atmosphere that he loved so much. If we members hold the same philosophy that Charlie Banks did, that you work hard and share the wisdom you pick up along the way, then IAATI will always be one of the most successful organizations
in the world. Especially being a volunteer organization! Always promote volunteerism, faith, support, and mentoring in everything you do. I thank Sheri Taynor Charlie and Ann, for everything they taught me outside of work and the caring hearts they both have. Charlie will be missed! Sheri Taynor is a Past President of the SE Chapter of IAATI, and current Secretary. She is also the Secretary and Treasurer for the FL Auto Theft Intelligence Unit, and a past Associate Director for IAATI. Retired from the State of Florida in 2008 to go into public sector sales, she is currently Regional Sales Manager (Public Safety) for NDI Recognition Systems, leading provider of automatic license plate readers. ■
A WORD OF THANKS FROM PAST PRESIDENT HANS KOOIJMAN THANK YOU ALL!
I2017. It would not have been possible without the support of the t was a great honor for me to be your IAATI President for 2016-
membership. That’s why I thank you all for your support. It was impossible to attend all Branch and Chapter training seminars but I had the opportunity to attend a number of them. It was a privilege to be the first IAATI President who attended a LATAM training in Buenos Aires, Argentina. All seminars were well organized and of outstanding quality. At all seminars I was welcomed with respect and great hospitality. This past August in Cape Town, the Southern African Branch showed all of us that they know how to organize an IAATI training seminar. It was great event. They all did a fantastic job. I would like to thank the IAATI 2016-2017 Executive Board, all officers, directors, associate directors, chapter/branch presidents and all committee members for their commitment, hard work, and input. I know this hard work had to be done in your spare time because most of you have a full-time job. This year we took new steps to move IAATI from simply a friendly organization into a more professional organization. This
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
takes time. We must realize that every step we take must be right for IAATI. In spite of that, the family feeling will never disappear I am sure. No matter what and no matter where, each member can rely on the support of the membership. We had some hard discussions during meetings over the year. And that’s okay. Hard discussions show our commitment to this organization. Hans Kooijman Nevertheless it did not harm our IAATI family feelings. In South Africa I had the privilege of swearing in our newly elected 2017-2018 President, JD Hough. I wish him a lot of wisdom and success. I know he is ready for the job. I am sure he can rely on the support of his board and the entire membership. Thank you all. It was a pleasure to serve as your president. It was certainly an unforgettable experience. ■ 7
OV
C AR
N MI
SE
GE
A ER
IAATI BUSINESS
CAPE TOWN CREW MAKES IAATI’S 65TH A SEMINAR TO REMEMBER By Stephen Gobby
IIAATI’s 65 annual training arrived at the convention center in
t was all smiles, handshakes and helloes when the attendees of
Cape Town, South Africa on Sunday, August 27th. In all, 313 people registered, representing a record-breaking 22 countries (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe). Registration moved along like clockwork as the on-site team greeted people from across the planet, weary after long hours in the air. Attendees checked in and looked over the program in anticipation of a week of great training and networking. Sunday evening saw the Presidents’ Reception, a fine occasion for all to meet with the hosts and the IAATI and SAB board members as well as with other attendees and, of course, exhibitors. On Monday morning, attendees were treated to an impressive Opening Ceremonies which did not hold back on the pomp and circumstance. It was a truly impressive and grand affair with South African officials and dignitaries sharing their thoughts and good wishes with the delegates. Classes started promptly after the Opening Ceremonies and it quickly became clear that the organizers had gone to great lengths to prepare a thorough academic program for the week, with speakers from across the globe, all experts in their field. On Thursday afternoon the Southern African Branch held their AGM and IAATI held its own immediately afterwards. That evening, a cocktail hour preceded the gala banquet during which live musical entertainment was on hand for those moments when no one was at the podium. Finally came the swearing-in ceremonies for the boards of both SAB and IAATI. JD Hough was sworn in as IAATI President and Motsamai Mollo as President of the SAB. Late Friday morning, after the final classes were completed, newly elected IAATI President JD Hough and SAB President Motsamai Mollo closed this the 65th Annual Training Seminar. Slowly and seemingly reluctantly, people began to leave and make their way home. The Cape Town seminar was a magnificent seminar. It was the first time IAATI had come to South Africa and it was clear that the on-site wanted to do everything to make everyone feel welcome and to put on a show which no one would forget. Their efforts were overwhelmingly successful! Please enjoy the photo coverage of the seminar here in the next few pages. ■ 8
Attendees registering
President Hans Kooijman and Past President Christopher McDonold at the registration desk
President Kooijman and the on-site committee THE APB
IAATI PRESIDENT - J.D. HOUGH
PRESIDENTS’ RECEPTION
SAB Past President & IAATI VP Tinus Odendal
SAB President Daan Nell
SA Police Provincial Commissioner for the Western Cape Lt General Jula
IAATI President Hans Kooijman
SA Police Provincial Commissioner for the Western Cape Lt General Jula. ; Philip Opemann; SAB 1st VP Motsamai Mollo
President Hans Kooijman (rear) thanking his VPs for their hard work over the past year (L-R: JD Hough; Bill Johnson; Tinus Odendal; Paul Thomas)
IAATI Past President Robert Hasbrouck; President Hans Kooijman; Past Presidents Jerry Cole & Christopher McDonold
UK Branch President Mike Briggs; Ingegard & Arne Knippel Euro Branch 1st VP
President Hans Kooijman & NERC President Joseph Guidice
Neen singing about missing children
IAATI Director Brad Anderson & Australasian Branch President Mark Pollard
LatAm Branch delegates: (L-R) Carlos Alberto Betancur Ruiz; Jorge Omar Nasrala; Ana Laura Brizuela; Leandro Gutierrez; President Daniel Beck and Agustin Patelli
IAATI Past President Todd Blair, 4th VP Paul Thomas; 1st VP JD Hough
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
9
OV
C AR
GE
A ER
N MI
SE
IAATI BUSINESS
OPENING CEREMONIES
Tinus Odendal, IAATI VP & Emcee
IAATI President Hans Kooijman opening the SA Police Provincial Commissioner for the seminar Western Cape Lt General Jula addressing the attendees.
INTERNATIONAL PANEL
Daniel Beck, President, Latin American Branch
Mike Briggs, President UK Branch
JD Hough, 1ST VP IAATI
(L-R) Jari Tiainen; Daan Nell; Daniel Beck; Mike Briggs; Mark Pollard; JD Hough; Tinus Odendal 10
Daan Ne l, President Southern African Branch
Tinus Odendal, Moderator, 3rd VP IAATI
Mark Pollard, President Australasian Branch
Jari Tiainen, President European Branch
THE APB
IAATI PRESIDENT - J.D. HOUGH
EXHIBITORS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
IAATI is extremely grateful to the fine exhibitors and sponsors who helped make this, our 65th Annual Training Seminar such a success. On Tuesday of the seminar, IAATI President Hans Kooijman and Southern African Branch President Daan Nel took the time to visit with them all in the exhibitors’ area. Without these kind and generous folks, our seminars would not be the successful events they are. We thank you all!
11
OV
N MI
C AR
SE
GE
A ER
IAATI BUSINESS
BANQUET AND SWEARING-IN CEREMONIES
Emcee & IAATI VP, Tinus Odendal
Euro Branch Past President Renato Schipani and Past President Christopher McDonold The Lojack Crew
Hans Kooijman swearing in JD Hough as President
The Latin American contingent
President Hough swearing in his newly elected Board of Directors
The Southern African contingent
12
THE APB
IAATI PRESIDENT - J.D. HOUGH
President Hans Kooijman presenting the President’s Award to VP Paul Thomas
VP Tinus Odendal & incoming President JD Hough
SAB President Daan Nel & Mignon
President Hans Kooijman presenting a gift to SA Police Provincial Commissioner for the Western Cape Lt General Jula
SAB Outgoing President Daan Nel (right) swearing in President Motsamai Mollo
Past President Kooijman presenting President JD Hough with his gavel
3rd VP Paul Thomas & Kathryn Past Presidents in attendance at the seminar: (L-R) Hans Kooijman; Todd Blair; John O’Byrne; Christopher McDonold; Robert Hasbrouck; Stephen Gobby; Philip Crepeau; Jerry Cole
4th VP Brad Anderson, wife Melissa & daughter Carrie
President Hans Kooijman & SA Police Provincial Commissioner for the President Hough and his new board of directors (those in attendance) Western Cape Lt General Jula. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
13
OV
C AR
N MI
SE
GE
A ER
IAATI BUSINESS
2017 IAATI
AWARD OF MERIT WINNER
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM MEMBERS Investigator Dana Chavez
COLORADO ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE
Submitted by Reg Phillips, Award Chair
Senior Prosecutor David Cossin
COLORADO ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE
“THE BOW TIE CREW”
Detective Jennifer King-Sullivan
BROOMFIELD POLICE DEPT
Detective William H Johnson
ARVADA POLICE DEPT
Deputy Random Pihlak
WELD COUNTY SHERIFF OFFICE
Analyst Gina Jeffries
COLORADO STATE PATROL (ATTIC)
OPERATION “BOW TIE CREW” TASK FORCE
T
he self-titled “Bow Tie Crew” members, or “BTC”, were indicted by the Colorado Statewide Grand Jury on June 6, 2016. The Grand Jury returned a 122 count indictment for allegedly violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act (“COCCA”) amongst other criminal charges. Colorado’s Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman reported that William Cussins, Audrey Halvorson, Brandon Martinez, Ashley Egeland, Christopher Bartz and Cody Cox, along with four more associates were charged in the State Grand Jury indictments. In the end, all members of the Bow Tie Crew pleaded guilty and all served time.
The award was presented to Detective W.H. Johnson by Award of Merit Committee Chair Reg Phillips and President Hans Kooijman at the IAATI Annual Seminar in Cape Town Africa. The case broke open when suspects was observed by members of the West Metro Drug Task Force (WMDTF) at a residence in a stolen vehicle towing a stolen trailer. One suspect had been under surveillance for illegal narcotics activity at his residence by WMDTF. Two suspects were later taken into custody by WMDTF and Arvada Police Department. In the efforts to feed their illegal drug lifestyle, suspects were involved in the theft of twelve (12) vehicles from a dealership near Wheat Ridge, Co. One was taken into custody with a stolen handgun in addition to the vehicle and trailer. Subsequent interviews of two suspects by Investigator Dana Chavez of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, Detective Jennifer SullivanKing of the Broomfield PD and Investigator Randum Pihlac 14
SUBMITTED BY: W.H. JOHNSON / WILLIAM@IAATI.ORG / OFFICE #720-898-6746
Operation “Bow Tie Crew” Statistics: • 1 Bobcat Skid Steer • 2 Motorcycles • 2 ATVs • 2 RVS • 7 Trailers • 6 Burglarized Homes and Small Businesses • 13 Vehicles from Dealership • 19 Cars and Trucks • 122 Count Indictment Criminal Charges Included: • Weapon possession by previous offender • Identity Theft • Credit Card/Cheque Fraud • Forgery • Theft of collector’s Coins • FAA Certified Drone • Illegal Narcotics transactions • Driving While Intoxicated • Assault of a Police Officer • Vehicular assault The total Estimated Property stolen was well over $800,000. of the Weld County Sheriff’s Office provided additional information which led Detective Johnson to issue a search warrant for another suspect’s residence. Detective Johnson also noted a warning issued by the Wheat Ridge Police Department regarding the burglary of a vehicle dealership in which 12 vehicles were stolen. Upon executing the search warrant on one of the suspect’s residence, evidence related to the dealership burglary along with 4 stolen vehicles were recovered. In addition Investigators recovered evidence of illegal narcotics transactions, burglaries, identity theft, and stolen property to include purses, wallets, identification documents and credit cards. Information obtained from interviews led to the recovery of additional stolen Continued on page 16 THE APB
IAATI PRESIDENT - J.D. HOUGH
2017 IAATI INSURANCE INVESTIGATOR OF THE YEAR AWARDED TO
SOUTH AFRICAN INSURANCE CRIME BUREAU TEAM By Brad Anderson, Committee Chair
TAward was presented to South Afri-
he Insurance Investigator of the Year
can Insurance Crime Bureau (SAICB) Motor Project Team Investigators Francois Pienaar (Project Manager), Mervin Maynard and Ivan Burger during IAATI’s 65th Annual Training Seminar in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. The award was presented to the recipients in recognition for their outstanding efforts involving the SAICB Clone Project. The nomination for the award noted that the SAICB represents the major insurers in South Africa and that vehicle crime has a major impact on the short-term insurance industry. It was estimated that 60% of stolen and hijacked vehicles in South Africa are destined for the local market. The local or domestic market can only be accessed if the vehicles can be sold to unsuspecting buyers as “legal units”. In order to successfully tap into this market, syndicates use various role players involved in the process to clone stolen vehicles with legitimate vehicles. While South Africa has an advanced vehicle registration system, the integrity of this system is dependent on its users. Unfortunately, corruption is also at unacceptable levels and has had a negative impact on the country and the insurance industry. To combat the corruption, the SAICB established a Clone Project Team that was led by Francois Pienaar, who was asisted by Investigators Mervin Maynard and Ivan Burger. The project focused on the following:
• The creation of entities on the SAICB internal investigation and analysis platform. These entities include vehicles, persons, system users, system offices, contact numbers and other relevant details that enhance the SAICB fraud predictive model on the SAS Fraud Framework. • The tracing of cloned vehicles and the liaison with the SA Police Service, especially vehicle-crime investigations and cross-border crimes to have these vehicles seized. • The identification of seized vehicles through the application of specialized skills in order to determine the original identifiers and link it back to the initial theft and/or hijacking cases. In doing so, they would recover vehicles for the insurance industry, as well as the uninsured public. • The identification of suspects and criminal syndicates involved in
organized vehicle crime; specifically, the domestic market. The clone project proved very effective. Between July 1, 2015 and April 28, 2017, the team identified 2,740 cloned vehicle records. Additionally, the team seized 383 stolen and hijacked vehicles that were also identified as clones. These vehicles were subsequently returned to insurers, as well as uninsured persons and companies. The estimated value of the recovered vehicles is R33 704 000 (S. African Rand) or $2,808,666.00 dollars (USD) Their combined efforts also identified other targets involving corrupt officials and organized crime syndicates, all of which are currently being investigated with the aim to sucessfully prosecute all involved persons. On behalf of IAATI, we congratulate this year’s recipients, Francois Pienaar, Mervin Maynard and Ivan Burger of the South African Insurance Crime Bureau. ■
• The identification of records used for the cloning of vehicles. • The analysis of such records with the aim to obtain a total picture regarding system users, entities and suspects. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
15
OV
C AR
GE
A ER
N MI
SE
IAATI BUSINESS
A NEW INITIATIVE – RECOGNITION OF YEARS OF SERVICE By Paul Thomas, 3rd VP
Aa new initiative designed to recognize various membership
t out 65th IAATI Seminar, President Hans Kooijman launched
milestones. Developed by the 2016/17 Membership Committee the initiative seeks to recognize when members reach significant anniversaries of membership in IAATI. Members who achieve 10 years, 20 or 25+ years of membership in IAATI will receive special lapel pin to acknowledge their long term support of IAATI. The first of these pins were awarded during the 2017 banquet dinner to the 20 and 25+ year members in attendance. Supplies of these commemorative pins will be distributed to each of the branches and chapters and will be given out annually at their local branch or chapter seminars. It is also intended that a list of all members achieving their 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25th will be published in APB each year. ■
President Kooijman presenting the 20 year service pin to Christopher McDonold, John O’Byrne & Paul Thomas. AWARD OF MERIT from page 14 vehicles over the next few days at nearby apartment complexes and various road locations. Arvada Police Department, Broomfield Police Department, Weld County Sheriff’s Office, Colorado’s Attorney General’s Office along with the Colorado State Patrol’s Auto Theft Intelligence Coordination Center formed a multi-jurisdictional task force to continue the investigation into the “Bow Tie Crew”. ATTIC analyst Gina Jeffries assisted in the investigation by obtaining various police reports, preparing Grand Jury exhibits and monitoring in custody “BTC” member’s jail phone calls. Investigators did obtain crucial information which assisted in solving other crimes to include one of the cases involved, the burglary of an elderly female’s residence in Weld County. The elderly female victim had been admitted to a hospital when unau16
Ted Saraf of Lojack receiving his pin from President JD Hough.
President Kooijman (2nd from left) presenting the 25 year service pin to Tinus Odendal, Robert Hasbrouck, Stephen Gobby, Philip Crepeau, Jerry Cole. thorized entry was made into her residence and over $100,000 in property was stolen including her Volkswagen. Investigators were able to locate the agency which had recovered her unoccupied vehicle and their phone conversations linked specific members of the “BTC” to the burglary and vehicle theft. In the end, Attorney General Coffman stated, “While not a well-organized street gang, the ‘Bow Tie Crew’ showed a brazen disregard for the law and inflicted significant damage to our community, with car thefts and property crime rates on the rise, we should all be concerned because ultimately we each pay the price for these crimes in elevated insurance rates.” Thank you, well done and congratulations to the Award of Merit winners. ■ Special thanks to Detective Johnson for his assistance in the drafting of this article. THE APB
IAATI PRESIDENT - J.D. HOUGH
IAATI DIRECTORS AWARD 2017 By Danny Sheppard, Director
TAward. The Committee deliberated over several great candihis year, there were two recipients for the IAATI Directors’
dates and two stood out above the rest. The first recipient, Tinus Odendal, has been an IAATI Member for many years and has served the Southern African Branch in every capacity including President. He now serves on the IAATI Executive Board as 2nd Vice President. He has numerous accomplishments within his branch and within IAATI most notable being having been instrumental in the founding of the Southern African Branch.
Tinus Odendal
Bill Biondo
Our 2nd Directors’ Award is a posthumous one to the late Bill Biondo. Bill was long time member of IAATI and his Chapter. Many years ago IAATI was trying to get the car manufacturers
involved as they had been long ago. Bill, being from GM stepped up to the plate. He became a great asset to not only IAATI but to all Chapters and Branches where he instructed. He always brought up-to-date information to the attendees of his classes. He was also an IAATI Director and brought a fresh perspective from the corporate side. Sadly, Bill passed away suddenly last April. His posthumous award will be given to his family. ■
Past President Chris McDonold presenting the Directors’ Award plaque to the late Bill Biondo’s wife Colleen and daughter Jessica along with GM’s George Baker, Bill’s colleague and friend, On Wednesday, October 4, 2017.
RAYMOND W. DREHER AWARD COMMITTEE SEEKS SUBMISSIONS FOR 2018 Submitted by Past President Denny Roske
TLt. Ray Dreher of the Missouri Highway Patrol, and IAATI’s 16th President. While not necessarily a yearly award, this is given he Raymond W. Dreher Award was created in 1984 as IAATI’s most prestigious award and is presented in memory of the late
as recognition for IAATI’s most active and dedicated members who have distinguished themselves by service to the Association. It is only awarded to those giving of themselves far and above what is expected and required of membership. There are no other requirements for the award, except hard work and dedication to IAATI with an international focus. Nominations may include, but not limited to: number of years as an IAATI member, if any board positions held, committees assigned to, International Seminars attended, instructor at Seminars, other contributions towards the betterment of IAATI. This year’s award, if one is awarded, will be presented at the Annual Seminar in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania August 4th – 9th 2018. The closing date for submissions is May 1, 2018. Submissions shall be sent to the Executive Director, John Abounader at: jvabounader@iaati.org ■
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
17
OV
N MI
C AR
SE
GE
A ER
IAATI BUSINESS
NICK MAYELL WINNER OF IAATI’S HEAVY EQUIPMENT AWARD Submitted By Rusty Russell (NICB) Note: The following text is taken from the nomination submitted by Vince Wise of Datatag Inc.
Ntice heavy vehicle mechanic. In 1985 he started managing
ick Mayell left school at the age of 16 and became an appren-
a plant hire company in the southwest of England. While he enjoyed his job, he became quickly frustrated by at the amount of thefts the company was experiencing. After reporting the theft of 5 machines to the local police station, he decided that he would set out and conduct his own investigation. He worked solidly for 7 days after which he received information from a builder that someone had tried to sell them one of the machines 2 days earlier. Now with a positive lead he was able to pursue at least one of the machines. The next day he was given a possible location which he followed up on. His efforts were rewarded when he arrived at the location and found not one, but two of his missing machines. Despite a severe altercation with an angry mob he managed to seize both machines. Not content with just two machines he manipulated the situation and eventually befriended several of the mob until someone broke the silence, and the next day he recovered another two machines some 20 miles away. Unfortunately, he was unable to recover the 5th machine. Little did Nick know that this experience would eventually turn into a lifelong vocation. Soon he found himself being asked for help from other hire companies in the area, and wasn’t long before he was making enquiries for insurance and finance companies. Three years later he left the plant hire industry but he still continued to be very active and carry out private investigations. In 1995 he was approached by The Equipment Register to work for them as a full time investigator and vehicle examiner. During his time with TER he was involved in over 20 high profile cases. In one case, after a 2 month investigation, he located a premises in Ashdod, Israel and within a month managed to locate and identify over £1M worth of machinery. In another operation, he followed up a lead concerning a criminal gang who he already had dealings relating to machinery theft. After a 9 month investigation, the defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. The total value of the recovered machines was £1,365,000. In another investigation, a plant hire company from the southeast of England had spotted a Volvo EC15 excavator for sale on Ebay, which had been stolen from them several weeks earlier. This led to Nick working 8 months across the country tracking down 71 stolen machines. Two men were found guilty and sentenced to a combined 10 years and 7 months. 18
Not content with just tracing and identifying machines himself, Nick also spends much of his time passing on his years of experience through various training programmes. In fact, Nick went back to college and got himself qualified as a police trainer, such was the popularity of these courses he was giving. Soon he was honoured to be invited to join Interpol’s Formatrain Project as a trainer. As well as his support for Interpol, he has continued to be a strong supporter of IAATI and has always made himself available to support our training programs and seminars. In addition to the UK, he has trained police officers in places such as Cyprus, Bosnia, Canada, France, Spain, Montenegro, Argentina, Holland, Belgium, Serbia, Finland, Norway, Denmark to name but a few. He currently runs two accredited courses: one in the identification of Heavy Equipment and the other is for Forensic VIN recovery. Since 2009, he has produced over 40 videos to support his training programs, several of which are now branded for Interpol use. In 2011, he left TER to set up his own company, Plant Theft Consultancy. His mission was to further raise the standard of competence among vehicle examiners and police and to take on more active and complex investigations. Continued on next page THE APB
IAATI PRESIDENT - J.D. HOUGH
HEAVY EQUIP AWARD from previous page In June 2012 he also joined the Datatag team, primarily to support the CESAR security marking system. Because of his activities, Nick is constantly called upon to give evidence in court. Nick’s limitless enthusiasm is infectious to all who work with him. His mobile phone is never switched off. Nick is intimidated by no one, and will never be daunted by any investigation, anywhere in the world. Because of his unique abilities and knowledge, Nick is recognized among his peers as probably the best plant and vehicle examiner in the world. During his long career he has recovered an estimated £50M TRAINING from page 1 COLORADO AUTO THEFT INVESTIGATORS When: April 15th – 19th Where: Durango, Colorado Info: Joni Tangeman JTangeman@arapahoegov.com NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL CHAPTER When: April 30th – May 3rd Where: Appleton, Wisconsin Info: Cheryl Zofkie, Czofkie@nicb.org NICB SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS When: May 7th – 10th Where: St. Louis, Missouri Info: Katie Zofkie, KZofkie@nicb.org FLORIDA AUTO THEFT INTELLIGENCE UNIT When: May 8th – 9th Where: Jacksonville, Florida Info: Sheri Taynor, secretary@seiaati.org
worth of stolen machinery and continues to add to this tally on a nearly daily basis. If the total amount of plant recovered internationally because of his training and input was to be estimated, it would run into £100’s of Millions. Nick Mayell continues to dedicate a very large proportion of his life to plant investigation and recovery of heavy equipment. IAATI is proud to announce Nick Mayell as the winner of the 2017 Heavy Equipment Award. Nick was not in attendance in Cape Town so the award was given to Euro Branch President Jari Tiainen who will present Nick with the award at the Euro Branch seminar in October. ■
LATIN AMERICA BRANCH When: June TBA Where: Buenos Aires, Argentina Laura Brizuela analaubrizuela@gmail.com
EUROPEAN BRANCH When: Oct. 3rd – 5th Where: Vilnius, Lithuania Info: Arne Knippel akn@forsikringogpension.dk
UK VEHICLE CRIME CONFERENCE When: June 6th – 7th Where: Loughborough, UK Info: John O’Byrne jobyrne@iaati.org
SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL CHAPTER When: Oct. 23rd – 26th Where: Galveston, Texas Info: Bill Skinner, BSkinner@lojack.com
SOUTH EAST REGIONAL CHAPTER When: June 10th – 14th Where: Norfolk, Virginia Info: Nate McGanty nmcganty@gmail.com 66TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR & NORTH EAST REGIONAL CHAPTER When: Aug. 4th – 9th Where: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Info: Don Cavallo, dcavallo@lojack.com
SOUTH AFRICAN BRANCH When: Oct. 30th – Nov. 2nd Where: Weesgerus Holiday Resort Modimole Limpopo, South Africa Info: Motsamai Mollo, mmollo@ford.com FUTURE INTERNATIONAL SEMINARS 2019 IAATI Seminar in New Glasgow, Scotland 2020 IAATI Seminar in Chicago, Illinois (USA)
SAPS BAND
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
19
NORTH EAST REGIONAL CHAPTER
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By Detective Joe Guidice, NYPD
Ithat I am serving as the NE-IAATI
t’s with great pleasure and gratitude
president for 2017-2018. I was elected President at out 45th annual training seminar which was held in South Portland, Maine this past May. The seminar was organized by 2nd Vice President Dave Potter, Executive Director Kim Hormann and Director Mark Hannigan. The MC was 4th Vice President Joe Stephenson and I Joe Guidice would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their hard work. Everyone did a superb job. I’m looking forward to the 46th annual training seminar which will be tri-hosted by NE-IAATI, IAATI, and Pennsylvania Auto Theft Prevention Authority August 5-10, 2018 at the Pittsburgh Sheraton at Station Square. Please save the date. I look forward to hosting all IAATI members during the seminar. For those of you who do not know me, allow me to briefly introduce myself. I began my career with NE-IAATI in 2006 ascending to chapter president in 2017 and will plan to be an active contributing member well past my presidency. I want to thank the past presidents of NE-IAATI and all of the executive board for helping me achieve the presidency. My career in the world of auto theft and insurance fraud began in my teenage years when I started as a file clerk for Motors Insurance Corporation (the physical damage insurance company for General Motors). As I was filing numerous insurance policies, I noticed one common theme on each one and it’s wasn’t the Continued on page 30
SAB President Daan Nel, Adrie Blignaut, VP Tinus Odendal; Executive Director John Abounader 20
NORTHEAST IAATI PRESIDENT HOSTS GET-TOGETHER IN CAPE TOWN
Ner at the IAATI seminar for the NERC members who are in
ERC tradition holds that our president host a little get-togeth-
attendance as well as for some invited guests. This year was no exception. President Joe Guidice did a fine job greeting chapter members as well as some special guests. Past President Stephen Gobby took the photos and provided the chapter flag. Historical note: Northeast IAATI did not have a flag until it was designed and presented to us in 1989 by the Sûreté du Québec, the hosts of our seminar in Montreal that year. For a time after that, chapter Presidents were presented with a replica upon completion of their term of office.
SAB President Daan Nel, Past Presidents Robert Hasbrouck & Stephen Gobby
Euro Branch President Jari Tiainen; NERC President Joe Guidice; IAATI President Hans Kooijman THE APB
CHAPTER PRESIDENT - JOSEPH GUIDICE
Past President Robert Hasbrouck & Euro Branch President Jari Tiainen
President Joe Guidice with the Southern African Branch Board
President Joe Guidice (R) with Philip Opperman and family NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
L-R Motsamai Mollo (incoming SAB President); Past President Stephen Gobby; Reg Phillips; President Joe Guidice; Past Presidents Robert Hasbrouck & Philip Crepeau
Australasian Branch President Mark Pollard; IAATI VP Paul Thomas; UK Branch President Mike Briggs 21
SOUTHERN AFRICAN BRANCH NEWS
REFLECTIONS: 65TH INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL TRAINING SEMINAR: CAPE TOWN ooking back in time to October 2011, years experience. Lwhen the then, newly elected IAATI During the 2016 book year their office President, Joe Brosius, attended our SAB Annual training seminar and made me an offer (which I could not refuse) to host the 65th in South Africa, it feels like only last week!. Yet here we are in September 2017 and the 65th has come and gone in the blink of an eye! We knew that there would be a lot of hard work and planning and lots of stress and sleepless nights. But all these fears exceeded our wildest expectations! Not to mention the begging, borrowing and cajoling in finding the finances. What a time was had by all who attended. The notorious Cape of Storms winter weather also played its part and provided us with the mildest weather ever. The attendance by 312 delegates from 23 countries ranging from North, South and Central America, to the length and breadth of Europe and the UK, as well as Australasia and Southern Africa, attests to the huge interest in vehicle crime combating and information sharing thereon globally. Thank You to all the members, attendees, 35 presenters & 31trainers, who took the time and financial expense to attend. You are what IAATI is made up of, without your support there would be no IAATI. My thanks go out to all of our committee and board members over the past six years (Six! good grief) for all their diligence and hard work and patience (with me) you made this happen! Tinus Odendal, Daniel Nel, Adrie Blignaut and the rest of the onsite team, you were the key players in this endeavour, well done. A Special word of thanks goes out to all our partners, sponsors and the South African Police, who co-hosted this event. Without your presence and full assistance, this seminar and all past and future training seminars would not happen. We, as a
22
Onsite Committee Not for Profit and a voluntary association, would not be able to perform this vitally important task of training and vehicle crime combating awareness alone. To our conference organisers, idna, you guys rock! I for one thought that we could do this on our own, I mean how difficult can it be? Well, in the real world this is best left to the professionals, Tamlynne and team well done! You are professional. It would be remiss of me not to mention and thank Century City Conference Centre and Hotel, who provided the perfect venue and catering service, and pricing! We could not have found better anywhere. SAB Award Winners 2017: 1. The Investigator’s Award 2. The Vehicle Crime Combating Award 3. The Director’s Award Vehicle Crime Combatting Award Imperial Logistics The investigation team of Imperial Logistics consists of 5 members who are responsible for the investigation of truck hi-jacking, vehicle theft and other related crimes. The current members of the team are Adv. Andre Van Wyk, who leads the team, Machiel Erasmus, Danie Du Toit, Marius Pretorius and David Van Der Lith, who are all ex SAPS members. Their combined field of vehicle crime related investigation amounts to more than 100
investigated 86 cases of truck hi-jacking, with a value of R134 million. The value of the trucks and trailers and vehicles amounts to R83 million and the Imperial Logistics investigators managed to recover R73 million worth of that. In the process 40 suspects were arrested and 13 employees dismissed for corruption and their involvement in crime. They also managed to recover 10 other stolen vehicles to the value of R10 million. They managed to obtain an astonishing 89% recovery rate on all their trucks and trailers. They also testify regularly in various Criminal Courts with great successes. Once again, congratulations on a job well done!
Combatting Award, Imperial Logistics Investigators Award This year we received the following POE’s • Lt Col Dawie Lange, Lehurutshe Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit • D/W/O Putter, New Castle Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit • Capt Ndaba, SAPS Detective Service • D/W/O Clive Tiedt, Upington Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit The Awards Committee decided on the following Investigator: When the owner of a vehicle was killed in a hi-jacking and the two suspects, arrested, were released on bail, the two susTHE APB
BRANCH PRESIDENT - MOTSAMAI MOLLO
pects again hi-jacked more vehicles and were again arrested. This matter was then taken over and investigated by D W/O Ndaba. After a thorough investigation by D/W/O Ndaba into all the cases and obtaining ballistic evidence on the firearms found, the suspects were linked with numerous other crimes and two murders. The Suspects were convicted and received life imprisonment and further sentences up to 12 years for hi-jacking and related crimes. (W/O Ndaba was promoted to Captain in 2016) Well done Captain!
tions, assisted with fund raising, which includes organizing golf days, attended meetings with potential sponsors and co-ordinated government grants. Her ability to adapt and work with everyone on the SAB and to support them helps to create a very well rounded and successful IAATI SAB. Please join us in congratulating Adrie on a well-deserved recognition. President Motsamai Mollo being sworn in by out-going President Daan Nel
SAB Investigators Award, Capt Ndaba, Investigator, Receiving Award SAB Investigators Award, Capt Ndaba, Investigator, Receiving Award The Director’s Award This award will be assigned to an IAATI member for rendering extraordinary service to the IAATI SAB In recognition of extraordinary services rendered to The IAATI Southern African Branch, we herewith wish to honour our SA Branch Administrative Officer, Mrs. Adrie Blignaut. Adrie joined Zonke-Unicode back in 2012 – little did she know then, that she would become so actively involved in IAATI SAB. Adrie has been instrumental in the continued success and growth of the Southern African Branch. Apart from attending board and other IAATI SAB related meetings; She has also taken it upon herself to co-ordinate and plan the local SAB yearly training seminars, which are improving year after year. She also played a vital role in the successful bid and planning for the 2017 65th seminar. She prepared all the presentaNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
IAATI SA Branch 2017/2018 Board: • President, Motsamai Mollo • First Vice President, Philip Opperman • Second Vice President, Emmanuel Diakakis • Treasurer, Heiko Schulte • Executive Director, Adrie Blignaut • Directors: • Kobi Neethling • Thomas Motha • Vic Chitanand • Hugo van Zyl • Msebenzi Sibisi • Hannes Snyders • Gielie de Klerk • Botes Fourie • Anton Senekal • Barry Steenberg • Zakes Sondiyazi • Callie Calitz • 1ST Past President, Tinus Odendal • 3RD Past President, Gerald Davis • 4TH Past President, Daan Nel
SAB President Motsamai Mollo and his Board of Directors tions which you made. SAB Training2017/2018: Next year’s annual SAB training will take place at the usual, cost effective venue, the SA Police Resort & Conference Centre, Weesgerus, 30 October to 3 November 2018. Please support the SA Branch by attending this seminar and if you have a training subject that you can present, or wish to have presented, advise us so that we can include it. Remember this is your training seminar and we will try our best to make it worthwhile and interesting. SAB MEMBERSHIP: The latest membership stands at a record 364! Regards and thank you to you all. Gerald Davis 3rd Past President: SA Branch.
Welcome to the new board members. I am sure you will give your best in the year ahead and keep your promises and resolu23
SOUTH EAST REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS
SOUTHEAST REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS Submitted by Julio Varcarcel Jr.
Tmaking the Southeast Regional Conhank you to all who contributed to
ference that was held June 11 -15, 2017 the success that it was this year at the Marriott in Delray Beach Florida. A very special thanks goes to the host agencies, the Delray Beach Police Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for their support and sponsorship. Of course, we need to thank our corporate sponsors without whom we would not be able to provide the top-notch training and information that our members have come to expect and deserve. This year’s conference drew 149 members and with guests, we had a total of 164 attendees from across the US including Texas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Pennsylvania as well as from within the region. We are hopeful that we will be able to draw as many if not more members for next year’s conference in Norfolk Virginia. The 2018 conference will be held from June 10 to the 14th at the Norfolk Downtown Marriott and additional information is available at https://seiaati.org. Registration is now open and you can save $50 now with an early registration. As always, we are looking for your input on how well you thought the conference went and we appreciate the feedback from the survey that many of you completed. Please feel free to reach out to us via email at serciaati@gmail.com if you have any suggestions on classes for next year’s conference. If you have given any thought on trying to help with either the conference or in trying to increase our membership, we encourage you to consider being either a state delegate or even offering your time to run for the board of directors. Congratulations to your 2017 – 2018 President, Henry Beck and the rest of the Executive Board. 24
President, Henry Beck
Lojack Corporation
hbeck@lojack.com
First Vice President, Nathan McGanty
Chesapeake Virginia Police Department
nmcganty@seiaati.org
2nd Vice President, Jason Lightfoot
Chesapeake Virginia Police Department
jlightfoot@seiaati.org
3rd Vice President, Charlie Worsham
NICB
cworsham@seiaati.org
Secretary, Sherri Taynor
Florida DMV (Ret.)
secretary@seiaati.org
Treasurer, Chris McDonold
MVTPC
treasurer@seiaati.org
Immediate Past President, Walter Robinson
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office
Director
Adrian Rackauskas Delray Beach Police Department, FL
rackausk@mydelraybeach.com
Director
Mark Carter, Enterprise Holdings
Mark.H.Carter@ehi.com
Director
Julio Varcarcel Jr., Elsag/MD State Police, Retired
julio.valcarcel@elsagna.com
Director
Anthony Pardal, Florida Highway Patrol
anthonypardal@flhsmv.gov
Director
Benjamin Thomas IV, SC Dept. of Natural Resources
thomasb@dnr.sc.gov
Director
Brian Gibson, Pickens County Sheriff’s Office
bgibson@co.pickens.sc.us
DC
James Manning
James.Manning@dc.gov
Florida
Dave Conklin
ConklinD@pbso.org
Georgia
Shannon Arrowood
SArrowood@mariettaga.gov
Maryland
Marcus Easley
marcus.easley@maryland.gov
South Carolina
Tony Spires
spirest@dnr.sc.gov
Tennessee
Keith Jeffers
keith.jeffers@tn.gov
Virginia
Matthew Dyke
matt.dyke@vsp.virginia.gov
Virginia
Dianne Mandeville
diane.mandeville@vsp.virginia.gov THE APB
CHAPTER PRESIDENT - HENRY BECK
LOJACK AWARD
SEIAATI 2017 CONFERENCE
T
he owners of a 2004 International tow truck contacted the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Dept. in Tennessee to report that their vehicle was stolen from a car care center. The Cheatham County Sheriff’s Dept. verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the International truck. A short while later troopers with the Georgia State Patrol picked up the silent LoJack® signal from the stolen International with the LoJack® Police Tracking Computers (PTC) that are installed in patrol vehicles and aircraft. Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, the troopers tracked the vehicle to a rural area of Fulton County Georgia behind a medal building. After waiting for the employees to arrive for work the troopers were able to enter the building complex and by following the LoJack® signal they were able to locate the stolen tow truck in a wooded area behind a building. The tow bed had already been removed from the truck. The troopers returned back to the front of the business and called for a Fulton County detective to the location for further check of the surrounding area for more vehicles that were located on the property. When the detective arrived on the scene he obtained a search warrant for the property to check for other stolen vehicles and property. After a check of the property several vehicles were found to be stolen or suspected to be stolen. After a check of one of the buildings were several pallets. Items were found to have been stolen from several merchandise companies in metro Atlanta with a value of $250 to $300 hundred thousand dollars. The vehicles found to be stolen were a 20010 Dodge Charger, 2012 BMW 325 and the stolen International truck with LoJack®. Five trucks were towed with the serial number removed or altered. Three arrests were made at the location and more expected. The value of the two vehicles that were identified as stolen was $22.000 dollars. The other vehicles with altered or removed seral numbers were four heavy duty trucks: • 2-2014 Nissan U D trucks - value Appx $18,000 per truck • 2- Hino Heavy Duty trucks - Value appx $18,000 per truck ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
THE DAVE DEMPSEY PRESIDENTS AWARD VIRGINIA STATE POLICE HEAT PROGRAM
Tprogram is celebrating 25 years of auto theft prevention. In
he Virginia State Police Help Eliminate Auto Theft (HEAT)
1991, auto thefts in Virginia had climbed to 21,284, outpacing aggravated assaults and robberies combined. Law enforcement made 4,032 auto theft-related arrests that year, and the value of vehicles stolen was nearly $114 million. In 1992, the Virginia State Police responded by establishing the HEAT program, and motor vehicle thefts have declined by more than 60 percent.
Accepting the award on behalf of the Virginia State Police is Agent Matt Dyke and Agent Peter Lazear
HEAT PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: •Funds seven Virginia State Police auto theft special agents, who conduct auto theft investigations, salvage yard examinations, as well as public outreach. •Maintains a bait vehicle program of 11 ATVs, cars, high-performance motorcycles, and scooters. These vehicles are available to any law enforcement agency in Virginia. HEAT staff delivers bait vehicles to the receiving agency, provides training on the equipment, and collects the equipment at the end of the operation period. Agencies incur no cost for using the bait equipment. •Provides free VIN etching events, in which a vehicle’s 17-digit vehicle identification number is etched into the exterior auto glass. For motorcycles and scooters, HEAT provides etching decals that owners may apply to their vehicle at their discretion. HEAT etched more than 400 vehicles in 2016. •Hosts the annual HEAT Awards luncheon, which recognizes law enforcement agencies and individuals who have gone above and beyond in the fight against auto theft. •Provides grant funding to local agencies so that their auto theft personnel may attend the Southeast Regional Chapter of IAATI Annual Conference. •Works dozens of outreach events each year, from auto shows to NASCAR, and also provides display materials and staff support to local agencies at various other public appearances. •In an effort to spread awareness about auto theft prevention, makes major monetary investments in marketing, including purchase of Google Ad Words and banner advertisements. •Has more than 3,100 Facebook followers and amassed more than 115,000 YouTube views in a six-month period for three videos it released late in 2016. •Distributes thousands of high-quality, no-cost educational and promotional materials to local law enforcement agencies each year, including air fresheners, brochures, key chains, pencils, pens and stickers. •Maintains a tip line that offers up to $25,000 for tips on auto theft that lead to an arrest. Tips can be submitted online at HEATreward.com or by calling (800) 947-HEAT. 25
SOUTH EAST REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS
2017 SEIAATI AWARD OF MERIT DETECTIVE ARROWOOD
Mvehicle thefts from the Jim Ellis
arietta PD had been experiencing
Audi dealership over a period of time where high end vehicles were being stolen. All of the thefts were key fob switches which raised suspicion that an organized auto theft ring was possibly operating in the area. After several months with no leads in the case and none of the vehicles had been recovered, the investigation had stalled. Then on 07 July 2016, a black 4door Audi A7 was recovered on a traffic stop by Officer Jason Lewis, of the Dunwoody Police Department. . Officer Lewis seized the suspect’s 2 cell phones for evidence. Detective Arrowood, retrieved the two cell phones from Dunwoody PD, for search warrants that would possibly produce further investigative leads regarding the thefts at the dealership and identify anyone involved from the inside. Detective Arrowood obtained the search warrants for the two iPhone’s and upon forensic examination, both phones contained a large amount of data pertaining to sales and transactions for multiple high end vehicles. One phone contained financial data, account numbers, bank account records, etc., which appeared to be used to facilitate identity thefts and money laundering operations. The other phone contained numerous photos of high end vehicles including a Mercedes E350, that was stolen from Jim Ellis Audi. The photos
26
of this vehicle had been taken around the time of the theft, and Bolorunduro finally admitted possession of the Mercedes. The vehicles in the photos have yet to be identified, but are presumed to be stolen as well. As Detective Arrowood began to go through the phone records and financial data, additional suspects were identified as part of the ring, including an employee of Jim Ellis Audi, Mann Abess El-Ale, and the broker (middle-man) Ola Oginni. Evidence was also recovered that suggests multiple vehicles have been illegally exported to areas of Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Detective Arrowood contacted FBI
Atlanta, and the case information was duplicated at their request for possible federal prosecution. FBI Atlanta is currently working a money laundering case with Bolorunduro, with ties to the Republic of Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. In March 2017, state warrants were issued for Akintayo Bolorunduro, and Mann Abess El-Ale, for Theft by receiving and violation of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act.” This case is still ongoing in attempt to recover the remaining vehicles and additional arrests are expected. ■
THE APB
CHAPTER PRESIDENT - HENRY BECK
2017 SERC CERTIFICATES OF MERIT This year, three Certificates of Merit were awarded for outstanding efforts in helping to reduce auto theft and vehicle crimes.
DETECTIVE MICHAEL THOMPSON
WKubota lawnmowers valued at $30,000. He located another
hile recovering a stolen trailer valued at $8000 and (3) stolen
trailer in the suspect’s yard with no marking or numbers. Michael was later able to determine it was also stolen from another jurisdiction. As if that wasn’t enough, Michael saw a 2008 Dodge Charger in the yard with no VIN, titled to a Roper subject.
stolen from dealerships. Although he wasn’t directly involved with the charging from many of these investigations, the information that he developed on the suspect and the recoveries made from the suspect, helped point a variety of investigators to focus on the suspect. Without his evidence and hands on work, those cases could not have been made.
CHESAPEAKE POLICE DEPARTMENT The vehicle was missing most of its major components. After months of investigating, Michael was to establish PC for the arrest of Mr. Roper. Mr. Roper had switched the VIN with a stolen vehicle he was driving and then tried to file an insurance claim which Michael followed through with the insurance carrier and no monies were paid to Mr. Roper. In the end, Det. Thompson recovered nearly $50,000 in stolen property and made (2) arrest.
DETECTIVE JIM FRAUENHOFFER
Dassigned the Baltimore Regional Auto Theft (RATT) Task Force et. Jim Frauenhoffer a Baltimore Police Detective who has been
since 1995, was asked to participate part time with this “Dirt bike Task Force” based on his expertise with motorcycle theft and identification. He spearheaded a few notable long term investigations regarding the organized thefts of motorcycles, which ultimately resulted in the dismantling of several theft rings. Most notably, a gang member on Baltimore’s east side was the leader of a team of thieves who were routinely committing burglaries in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia motorcycle shops and dealerships, to fuel Baltimore’s demand for dirt bikes. By the end of the summer of 2016, the gang leader was behind bars on numerous counts of theft, burglary, and is still pending prosecution from several surrounding jurisdictions. He was able to close a series of cases in which over 3 dozen motorcycles were NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
2ND PRECINCT A SQUAD
Tthe city encompasses. They also face the most complex calls
his group only patrols 11.8 miles of the over 353 square miles
for service and 2nd highest, if not highest at times, call volume by precinct. When they get extra time they continue to push themselves and be proactive. This dedication led them to over 12 stolen vehicle recoveries with most of them occupied at the time leading to arrests or furthering an investigation. As an example some vehicles were used in other crimes such as larceny from vehicles and burglaries. Some suspects were driving under the influence and as far as Texas. While the number of recoveries were great it does not include a big case in which two juveniles had been calling in fake food delivery orders and stealing the vehicles from the drivers. These incidents spanned over several months and quickly escalated to carjacking after beginning as non-confrontational. After a failed carjacking attempt during which A Squad was working a good description was obtained and given out to the squad. Over an hour later while still in the area the suspects were located. A foot pursuit initiated and because of a coordinated effort but were taken in to custody closing many cases and putting local businesses at ease. Just recently they both plead guilty to several of the incidents. Since their arrest these type incidents of ceased. ■ 27
SOUTH EAST REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS
2017 SERC CORPORATE SPONSORS DIAMOND LEVEL SPONSORS
HOSPITALITY SUITE SPONSORS
ld
GOLD SPONSOR
SILVER SPONSORS S
er Sponsors
28
THE APB
CHAPTER PRESIDENT - HENRY BECK
44th SEIAATI Annual Training Conference Training Topics Special Guest Speaker-Chris Amos x
Basic Auto The
x
Heavy Equipment Iden fica on
x
Sovereign Ci zens
x
Marine Inves ga ons
x
Insurance Fraud
x
And more…….
x
Each day with offer up to 3 blocks of instruc on to choose from.
We are pleased to invite you to our 44th Annual Training Conference which will be held in Downtown Norfolk, Virginia from June 10-14, 2018. There will be 4 days of intensive training in the area of Auto TheŌ, Marine/Vessel InvesƟgaƟons and more. Norfolk Waterside Marrio 235 E Main St. Norfolk, VA 23510 Reserva ons: 757-627-4200 or go to www.seiaa .com to book your room. Use GROUP Code: Rates: Single $138.00 plus tax includes breakfast Double $148.00 plus tax includes breakfast for two Parking is $14.00 a day. Reserva ons must be made by May 15th, 2018 Local Airports: Norfolk Interna onal Airport (ORF)- See website for shu le informa on.
Includes: x
Sunday Night Welcome Recep on
x
Monday Night “BBQ” Event
x
Wednesday Night Banquet
x
Nightly Networking Suite
Online Conference Registra on www.seiaa .org Fees (Prior to May 15, 2018) $225.00-Members
$270.00-Non Members (includes Membership)
Late Registra on (A er May 15, 2018) $275.00-Members
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
$320.00-Non Members (includes Membership)
29
LATIN AMERICAN BRANCH NEWS
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By Daniel Beck
DEAR IAATI FAMILY,
Wgreat opportunity to tell you some-
e just met in Cape Town and this is a
thing about what the LATAM Branch has been doing during these past few months. We’ve strengthened our training opportunities for members and non-members and we’ve reached many new places in the region by the development of different training sessions and workshops, and we’ve concentrated our efforts by organizing our 2nd Annual Training Seminar. We had people coming from 8 different countries in Latin America. The task of organizing transfers, accommodation, vendors, the support from the government and from the armed forces were all very complex, but we managed to do it. We were very lucky, as we were supported by all the different armed forces in the country and for instance, the workshop on vehicle identification was performed by experts of two different law enforcement agencies. This workshop had 53 attendees. During the two days the seminar lasted, there were more than 250 people present. Among them: members of the insurance industry, law enforcement, private investigators, and members of the judiciary.
We are very thankful to all the attendees and speakers. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies, were under the responsibility of the main authorities in Security and Justice of the City, the Province of Buenos Aires and the nation itself. The support we received from President Hans Kooijman was very important to us. As it was his presence and also having John Abounader with us. Their words and presentations were very welcome by the audience and they gave the perfect institutional framework to the event. This kind of commitment makes us want to double our efforts to keep the Branch growing. Personally, I felt their support and a great satisfaction in having them near. I thank my team for their time and dedication. As always, Agustin dealt with every little detail in the organization. Martin, because he is our spare tire: always present and always willing to help. Also to Florencia and Emmanuel, and to every member and collaborator from LoJack for their support and professionalism at the accreditation desk and every other step of the way; assistance that determined the success of these days.
NERC President’s Message from page 20 premium! It was the vehicle identification number (VIN). I found it to be interesting because each one was different. As time went by, I found myself memorizing the VIN for each vehicle and able to recognize each car by looking at the first 10 positions of each VIN. Less than two years later, I was promoted to an underwriter for the same policies. Since I knew the letters and numbers for each VIN, it was a natural fit for writing the policies, since a majority is based on the type of vehicle you are insuring. Around the same I was promoted, I took the New York City Police Department exam and, by chance, met the Commanding Officer of the NYPD Auto Crime Division. He shared that my experience in the insurance business would be a natural fit for a career in Auto Crime, something that resonated with me. Fast forward to 1995, I was hired as a police officer and assigned to the 109 & 30 Precincts. During this time I never forgot what that 30
To each and every one who were present, to the vendors, who made it possible one more time that the Seminar was absolutely free of charge for the attendees, including the breaks and lunch for both days. The 65th Annual Training Seminar in Cape Town was a great Seminar. IAATI set foot in a new continent and that was a huge step for the organization. During the last months of the year we will launch new training courses, both for the National Direction of Immigration and The Superintendency of Insurance, in Argentina. Also, we´ll be working in the creation of a webinar with the Ministry of Justice. ■ Best regards, Daniel Beck – President LATAM Branch
Daniel Beck
CO told me. It took me five years to reach Auto Crime but I made it and have been there ever since. Since joining IAATI, I have made new friends, colleagues and contacts throughout the Northeast and around the world and undoubtedly, these kind of contacts and resources make an auto theft investigator unique. Many crimes are committed with automobiles so to me, the term “auto crime” is synonymous with all crimes. An auto crime investigator is a jack of all trades, an expert who can assist in solving almost any crime using IAATI to enhance their skill set. Lastly, I was able to attend the 65th IAATI training seminar hosted by the Southern African Branch, in Cape Town, South Africa. It was a wonderful mix of worldwide auto theft investigators and training from different areas and perspectives. I learned a lot and made some great contacts. It was time well spent. Thank you again for the privilege to serve as your president. I hope to see everyone in Pittsburgh in 2018! ■ THE APB
BRANCH PRESIDENT - DANIEL BECK
2ND ANNUAL TRAINING SEMINAR LATAM BRANCH - 7, 8 & 9 JUNE
D2nd Annual Training Seminar of the
uring these three days, it took place the
LATAM Branch, at the “Pte. Dr. Roberto M. Ortiz” room of the Centinela Building, headquarters of the Gendarmería Nacional Argentina, in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
development to attract new members, a free membership until December 31st was offered to the attendees to the 2nd Annual Training Seminar of the Latin American Branch and the PISA 2017 Conference in Sonora, Arizona. The result: 52 new members from the Seminar in Buenos Aires and 2 new members from PISA for the Latin American Branch.
1ST DAY – 8TH JUNE 8 AM TO 5 PM
Present were authorities of the National and Provincial governments, the many law enforcement agencies from several countries of South America, representatives from INTERPOL, insurance companies, private enterprises and authorities of the judiciary system. Also attending the Seminar was President Hans Kooijman and Executive Director John Abounader. An important number of international presentations were held along these 3 days of training, following the idea of having a comprehensive approach in the study of these crimes. A total amount of 258 attendees were there during the 8th and 9th of June and 45 people at the LEO workshop on the 7th, making this, the most important event from the Branch so far. In keeping with our growth policy, the registration was free of charge, and we were able to do this because of the contribution of the many sponsors we got this year, along with the invaluable support of the Gendarmeria Nacional Argentina, whose authorities let us hold the Seminar in its facilities.
FREE MEMBERSHIP UNTIL 31ST DECEMBER As part of the several initiatives under NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
On the 8th June, at 8.30 the Opening Ceremonies began with the Argentinian national anthem played by the Official Band of the Gendarmeria Nacional, followed by a few words from President Daniel Beck, followed by Carlos Mackinlay. CEO of Lo Jack Car Security Arg. S.A. and finally the Subsecretary of Security Policies of the Nation, Darío Oroquieta, who announced the creation of a new working group between federal authorities, from the Province of Buenos Aires, and the City of Buenos Aires to fight auto theft.
The audience was then honored with a few welcome words in Spanish by President Hans Kooijman, who also spoke later about the benefits of belonging to IAATI. The formal classes began then, with the Regional Chief of Interpol, Jaime Ansieta, who explained the benefits of sharing information and working together to achieve better results. Also, presented the different
databases and technology available in Interpol, to investigate auto theft crimes. He was followed by Giordano Lanzarini, and later Mr. Edwin Granados from the Institute of Insurance of Costa Rica, who made a criminological analysis of auto theft and different types of insurance fraud. The Director in Brazil, Carlos Alberto Betancur Ruiz and Mr. Jose Geraldo Da Silva, Director of the International Cargo Insurance Club of Brazil, made a presentation each one, as well. Carlos Alberto Betancur spoke about legislation on jammers around the world, possession and use of these devices and the necessity of an evolution in the area. During the rest of the day, there were also present Mr. Diego Fleitas, from the Ministry of Security of the Nation, then Leticia Risco, who is in charge of the Special Unit to Search Missing People, who offered all the tools and technology available to law enforcement officers and, finally, a joint presentation of all the experts in the investigation and prevention of cargo theft took place: Prosecutors Facundo Flores, Edgardo Ledesma and Diego Benedetto, Oscar Farinelli from FADEEAC (Argentinian Federation of Cargo Enterprises), Commissioner Fernando Flores –in charge of the Specialized Office in Cargo Theft of the Police of the Province of Buenos Continued on next page 31
LATIN AMERICAN BRANCH NEWS
Continued from prervious page Aires- and Subcommissioner Adrián Acuña, –in charge of the Specialized Office in Cargo Theft of the Police of the City of Buenos Aires-.
Commissioner Daniel Galati
Carlos Alberto Betancur Ruiz, Andre Velleda, Daniel Beck and Geraldo Da Silva, attendees from Brazil.
2ND DAY- 9TH JUNE 8 AM TO 5 PM On Friday, the day began with some words from the Ministry of Security and Justice from the City of Buenos Aires, Dr. Martín Ocampo. Later, the Executive Director of IAATI, John Abounader, presented the latest news about Keyless systems auto theft. He made a detailed explanation on these systems, emphasizing the latest mechanisms to evade them and manage to steal vehicles. The next turn was for Juan P. Furlong, Subsecretary of Organized Crime Investigation, who was introduced by 1st VP Omar Nasrala, and showed the advances in the last period regarding auto theft and the latest statistics. Also, he highlighted the importance of this kind of meetings to achieve our goals.
Subprefecto Cristian Vazquez Fredes, from PDI Chile 32
Then we heard Subprefecto Cristian Vazquez Fredes, from the Investigation Police of Chile (PDI), whom is in charge of the Brigada de Robos Metropolitana Oriente. Another representative of the insurance industry was Nicolás Jasper, expert from the Superintendence of Insurance of the Nation, who brought the latest statistics in auto theft of the country. Later, it was time for Ariel Valenti and Flavia Diego from the Catholic University of La Plata, who made a presentation regarding the different methods of vehicle verification, their advantages and disadvantages and later, the storage of recovered stolen vehicles. Then, the Secretary of Drug Trafficking, Martín Verrier, emphasized the link between this crime and auto theft. After that, Commissioner Cristian Ali, Chief of Cybercrime of the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires introduced several alternative ways to reach a stolen car, by the use of geolocalization devices installed in our cell phones. Then, it was the opportunity for General Adrián Manzi, Superintendent of Investigations of the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires and later, Roman Zrll, from Morón University, entertained the audience with some scientific contributions to the investigation of vehicle theft. Among them, he spoke about microdots and how they are useful to identify spare parts and vehicles themselves. Commissioners Carlos Cibeira –Federal Police- and Adrián Galati –Police of the Province of Buenos Aires- both in charge of the Vehicle Identification Workshop of June 7th, presented its conclusions after Roman Zrll. Finally, 1st VP Omar Nasrala and Secretary Ana Laura Brizuela, presented a summary of the benefits of belonging to IAATI and a brief of all the LATAM achievements so far. The closing ceremonies began with the speech of the Ministry of Security of the Nation, Patricia Bullrich, who was very pleased with the development and attendance to the Seminar and made very clear her commitment towards the fight of auto theft and related crimes. THE APB
BRANCH PRESIDENT - DANIEL BECK
EXTRA ACTIVITIES
Minister Patricia Bullrich and Daniel Beck As closure, several awards were given to law enforcement officers who distinguished themselves in the line of duty. ■
Prosecutor Juan Facundo Flores (center) receiving a special award for this investigation from President Daniel Beck (right) and Ana Laura Brizuela (left) in Cape Town.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WORKSHOP ON VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION – 7TH JUNE 2PM TO 6 PM In a room full of experts, with a total number of 53 law enforcement attendees, took place this workshop about vehicle identification. The main topics were: public VIN, chassis and engine numbers, labels, and the latest trends in these matters. The speakers were: Commissioner Carlos Cibeira, Comisario Adrián Galati, Comisario Jorge Carvallo, Inspector Joaquín Alaniz, Mayor Pablo Méndez, Suboficial Auxiliar Eduardo Arista and Sargento Marcelo Vega, all recognize experts in this area of knowledge. VISIT TO THE 911 DISPATCH CENTER OF THE CITY OF BUENOS AIRES 7TH JUNE 7 PM After the workshop, an interesting visit to the headquarters of the 911 took place. There, members of IAATI who attended the workshop, were able to have Access to this model facilities in Latin America, and also to speak to the operators of this system. The mechanisms and procedures developed there were explain to the visitors. IAATI LATAM INVESTIGATION OF THE YEAR AWARD – “THE QUINTEROS CLAN” In 2014, Prosecutor Juan Facundo Flores and his team, began investigating a gang formed by a family who owned more than 30 trucks. They used to sign contracts to transport goods. The truck left the facilities with the cargo, but then they changed their direction, and took the cargo to a deposit the same family owned, making then a fake complaint announcing the truck had been hijacked and the cargo stolen. After more than 2 years of investigation, they were able to determine that more than 300 crimes had been committed by this gang, all along Argentina, causing losses for more than U$S 1.3 million. Today, all the members of this family who were involved, are in jail, waiting for their trial. ■
33
WESTERN REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS
AWARD WINNERS IAATI WRC
LEE S. COLE OFFICER OF THE YEAR AWARD AND WRC-IAATI EXECUTIVE BOARD ACHIEVEMENT OF EXCELLENCE AWARD By John Bartolone (Excerpts from LT. Charles Jordan and Sgt. Sean Brown)
Enomination. The awards are the “Lee S. Cole Officer of the Year
very year Western Regional Chapter – IAATI offers two awards via
Award” and the “WRC-IAATI Executive Board Achievement of Excellence Award”. These awards are given based on nomination by someone other than the recipient. There are specific guidelines required to receive each award and once all nominations are received the WRC-IAATI board reviews the nominations and chooses a recipient based on merit, extensiveness of investigation, recovery value, arrests, and for a variety of different considerations. Specific guidelines for nominating a team or individual for the awards can be found at http://www.wrciaati.org/ , the general guidelines are as follows: LEE S. COLE AWARD: The “Lee S. Cole Officer of the Year Award” is so named after Lee Cole who, as an SIU Investigator, went above and beyond in his duties to assist law enforcement in vehicle theft interdiction. This award is intended to honor an individual officer or detective who has conducted an investigation of notoriety. • Recipient must be active law enforcement personnel. • Recipient has demonstrated exceptional performance in the area of auto theft prevention and investigation. • Must be a member in good standing of the Western Regional Chapter of IAATI. WRC-IAATI EXECUTIVE BOARD ACHIEVEMENT OF EXCELLENCE AWARD: The award is intended to honor a unit, team or organization who has conducted an investigation of notoriety possessing the qualifications of an active member of WRC-IAATI and who has distinguished themselves in a multi-disciplined motor vehicle crimes investigation or through their unparalleled support in combating motor vehicle crimes through public education efforts or financial support of an organization undertaking such investigations. Criteria for nominations: Eligible recipients must be at least one of the following:• Auto Theft Task Force / Unit or Team • Auto Theft Prevention Authority • Insurance Special Investigation Unit • District or Attorney General’s Office In addition recipients must be: • Active member of the state auto theft chapter and the WRC-IAATI • The nominated investigation or documented support must generally be within the year of the award however multi-year investigations will be considered 34
THIS YEAR’S AWARD RECIPIENTS:
THE LEE S. COLE AWARD
Wof the California Highway Patrol Coastal Division’s Investigative RC-IAATI would like to congratulate Investigator Jeff Clements
Services Unit and Ventura County Auto Theft Task Force (VENCATT); WRC-IAATI will be presenting Investigator Clements with the “Lee S. Cole Award” this year. Below is a short synopsis of the case submitted to the WRC-IAATI Board by for consideration by Lieutenant Charles Jordan. As the leading producer in VENCATT, Jeff analyzes vehicle theft trends, identifies theft and recovery locations, and monitors the custody status of repeat offenders. Jeff maintains an ongoing list of probationers, parolees, and seeks out those with outstanding warrants. He routinely coordinates bait car operations, probation searches, business inspections and warrant service operations. This past year alone, he has opened over 120 investigations and has made Investigator Jeff Clements of 48 arrests. A direct result of his the California Highway Patrol contribution to combat auto theft Coastal Division’s Investigative in Ventura County, the task force Services Unit and Ventura has observed a 23% increase County Auto Theft Task Force in new investigations, a 25% (VENCATT) increase in theft recoveries, and arrests have doubled. A specific investigation of note was initiated by Officer Clements in January 2016, named “Operation Cool Whips.” A suspect was determined to possess six stolen, VIN switched, and/or fraudulently purchased luxury vehicles, valued in excess of $550,000. A subsequent search warrant resulted in the suspect’s arrest, the recovery of the six luxury cars, five pounds of marijuana, and a stolen gun. The investigation initially linked 12 additional suspects who were colluding in similar crimes. Through exhaustive measures and statewide communication with fellow investigators, it was determined the theft ring consisted of approximately 60 suspects and approximately 300 vehicles in four California counties and two other states, with an estimated financial loss in excess of $5 million. THE APB
CHAPTER PRESIDENT - MICHAEL O’NEILL
This convoluted and multi-faceted case is currently before an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA), pending prosecution with the AUSA anticipating significant sentencing. Operation Cool Whips led Officer Clements to recognize a significant loophole being exploited by professional vehicle theft rings. The loophole was the use of straw purchasers obtaining high-end vehicles through fraudulent means. Jeff immediately brought his concerns to the attention of industry representatives at Carmax to help them stop the fraud. After connecting Operation Cool Whips to other active investigations, Jeff coordinated a meeting between investigators from multiple jurisdictions and management level personnel from the Department of Motor Vehicles to discuss preventative measures against title washing, and fraudulent registration issues. Please let us all congratulate Investigator Clements on this accomplishment!
WRC-IAATI EXECUTIVE BOARD ACHIEVEMENT OF EXCELLENCE AWARD
WInterdiction Detail (RAID) and will be presenting them with the RC-IAATI would like to congratulate the Riverside Auto-Theft
“WRC-IAATI Executive Board Achievement of Excellence Award”! Below is a short synopsis of the case submitted to the WRC-IAATI Board for consideration by Sergeant Sean Brown of RAID. On April 28, 2016, following the recovery of a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) switched stolen vehicle, the Riverside Auto-Theft Interdiction Detail (RAID) began investigating Gerardo Fererico Monsivais, AKA: “Tavo”. During this subsequent yearlong investigation, RAID discovered Monsivais was VIN switching a high volume of stolen trucks and SUV’s. At the onset of the investigation, Monsivais’ girlfriend’s residence was searched and he was found to be in possession of (VIN) switching tools, vehicle titles and VIN stamping equipment. Unfortunately, Monsivais was not apprehended at that time. Over the next several months, RAID identified several suspects involved in an organized vehicle theft ring responsible for a large number of stolen cars and trucks from the cities of Jurupa Valley, Riverside, Moreno Valley and Perris. RAID spoke with witnesses and informants and discovered Monsivais was working with another individual named, Jose Guadalupe Garcia, AKA: “Gordo”. Gerardo Monsivais and Jose Garcia were identified as the head of the theft ring and responsible for switching VIN numbers on several of these stolen vehicles. During interviews with informants and later confirmed during interviews with both Monsivais and Garcia, they taught juveniles how to steal early to mid-2000’s Chevrolet Silverados, Ford F-250s and GMC Hummer’s. The juveniles would bring the stolen vehicles to them and would be compensated. Through May of 2016, RAID recovered over 10 stolen vehicles and arrested several individuals, many of which were juveniles driving stolen vehicles at the direction of Monsivais and Garcia. On June 2, 2016, RAID conducted surveillance of a large property in the unincorporated area of Riverside, believed to be the location Monsivais was living. While conducting surveillance, two vehicles left the location and were stopped.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
Both vehicles, a stolen Chevrolet Tahoe and stolen Mazda 6 were VIN switched. A search warrant was served at the location where an additional VIN switched Chevrolet Silverado was recovered in addition to an extensive Butane Honey Oil lab. Monsivais was no longer at the residence and again avoided arrest. In October of 2016, RAID served a search warrant at a residence in the unincorporated area of Good Hope where Jose Garcia “Gordo” was arrested. During in-custody interviews with Garcia, he admitted to working with Monsivais and admitted that he personally showed juveniles how to steal Ford and Chevrolet trucks and SUV’s utilizing a screwdriver and pair of vice grip pliers. While in custody, RAID monitored jail phone calls made by Garcia. RAID identified additional stolen vehicles being driven criminal associates. On April 11, 2017, RAID’s investigation led to a tow yard located in the city of Riverside. During a search of the tow yard, Monsivais was discovered hiding in the cab of a tow truck and was subsequently arrested. Following his arrest, RAID recovered three additional VIN switched stolen vehicles, a Honda Accord, Ford F-250 and Chevrolet Silverado. Monsivais provided a full detailed confession to the VIN switching operation and admitted to utilizing local juveniles to bring him stolen vehicles. The VIN switched vehicles recovered by RAID all shared a similar style and method indicative of Monsivais and Garcia. RAID investigators, including investigators from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), recovered a large amount of evidence that was seized during this investigation, including cell phones, flash drives, laptop computers and VIN stamping equipment.
As a result of this investigation, RAID recovered a total of 40 stolen vehicles, 25 of which were Chevrolet and Ford pickup trucks. Gerardo Monsivais was charged with 27 felony auto-theft related charges and Jose Garcia was charged with 18 felony auto-theft related charges. RAID submitted bail enhancements and managed to increase their bail to $750,000 each while both were in trial. RAID has learned through Continued on page 39 35
WESTERN REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS
CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT THEFT-COOPERATION, COMMUNICATION
YOUR KEYS TO COMBATING CONSTRUCTION CRIME By Melissa Somers, Director, Construction Industry, Crime Prevention Program of Southern California (CPP) “Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.” Virginia Burden CPP of SoCal is a non-profit organization working with our members, regional law enforcement, the construction industry and area automotive theft task forces to educate, empower and engage in a community working towards reducing crime in the construction industry.
Cponent of auto theft that can easily be
onstruction equipment theft is one com-
overlooked. Heavy equipment, by nature, can be intimidating. It can be large, dirty and loud, and often times contains more identification numbers than you can shake a stick at. However, losses from heavy equipment theft total hundreds of millions of dollars each year, with recovery rates, nationwide, being only 22%. (2015 NER – NICB Theft Report). Compare that to NICB’s stated automobile recovery rate of 80%, and the need to raise awareness of the problem becomes evident.
Knowing a bit about the mysterious beast that the construction industry is will allow you to more effectively proMelissa Somers ceed with reporting, filing and, hopefully, recovering the next piece of heavy equipment that goes missing on your watch. The construction industry’s Crime Prevention Program of Southern California (CPP) encourages our members to utilize a layered approach to protecting their assets. No one item or method should be relied on when it comes to loss prevention (LP). Things like GPS are extremely useful but it’s important to remember that a criminal’s first objective after making off with equipment is often to identify any tracking devices and disable them. This is one reason why using a variety of marking and tracking techniques is vital to the health of a construction company’s LP procedures. Knowing that many contractors utilize GPS and similar tracking devices puts you one step ahead
of the curve when responding to a call that involves the theft of construction equipment. If the individual filing the report is unsure of the presence of such devices, ask them to put you in contact with a supervisor. Knowing whether or not such a device is being used could greatly help with your investigation. Contractors are encouraged to regularly beef up their inventory controls. The effects of an outdated or incomplete inventory have the potential to leave a lasting scar on a company’s bottom line. Suffering a loss and not having the information needed can affect productivity, good standing with an insurance company and even the likelihood of recovering any missing equipment. Knowing that the construction industry is being encouraged to have their inventory up to snuff opens the door to pressing for information that will help with your investigation. Asking a few pointed questions, to the right individual, can help you ascertain vital information about the missing equipment. It might take a few attempts, but taking that extra step to speak with the right person can make all the difference in the world when investigating the theft. Don’t be intimidated by the unknown; the construction industry has a litany of abbreviations and lingo; encourage the individual reporting the crime to use layman’s terms when describing the incident. And remember: ask for photos of the equipment; a picture is worth a thousand words. Construction theft is indeed a force to be reckoned with, yet we, at CPP, believe that with cooperation and communication, “Together, we CAN make a difference.” ■ Additional information about the construction industry’s Crime Prevention Program of Southern California as well as resources to assist with heavy equipment identification and reporting are available on CPP’s website: www.cppsocal.org.
36
THE APB
CHAPTER PRESIDENT - MICHAEL O’NEILL
THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGING
By Detective Bill Johnson, Arvada Co PD, President CATI, 1st Vice President IAATI
Cment Officers involved with investigating motor vehicle thefts.
olorado is experiencing a surge in violence against Law Enforce-
Over the last five years I personally know of several officers, including myself, who have been forced to use weapons in the line of duty. One of my close friends was critically injured after he was dragged underneath a stolen truck while attempting to take the occupants into custody. One of our CATI colleagues has been involved in two fatal shootings, involving stolen vehicles and armed suspects, within just the past two years.
some common sense. The majority of the blame for the current situation should be shouldered by their disengaged or, on the other hand, overprotective parents. I think we’ve all dealt with the parent who believes that their child can do no wrong. Law Enforcement, however, can detect those early warning signs that “Little Johnnie” is on the road to a local prison or worse, a casket. While there are no quick and easy answers to the problems we’re currently facing, I do know that we are obligated to go home to our loved ones every single day.
A man believed to be involved in the shooting of three law enforcement officers was taken from the scene by Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies in Sacramento. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) I recall watching a news helicopter broadcasting a live pursuit of a stolen vehicle with a juvenile captive in the rear seat. The suspect was captured on live television pulling a female from the van before resuming his flight from law enforcement. Thousands of people watched their televisions as a State Trooper attempted to lay down a spike strip to slow the van down as it exited the highway. I’ll never forget the horror of watching the van strike the Trooper and seeing him fly through the air, then over the guardrail before hitting the ground. The suspect didn’t even bother to slow down as he continued to flee, until finally crashing into another vehicle. This time, mercifully, the suspect decided to flee on foot and was apprehended a short time later by officers. The upside to this misadventure was that the Trooper survived his serious injuries and was eventually able to return to full duty. The suspect later had his day in court and was sentenced to be a guest of the State of Colorado penal system for 160 years. Watch any news channel and you will see that this issue is not limited to Colorado, but is a concern taking place across our nation. I believe we are entering a time of a generational change in respect for law enforcement. Our criminals are getting younger and in most cases, don’t consider the consequences of their actions. After years of playing computer games like “Grand Theft Auto” and “Zombie Apocalypse” they appear to have become desensitized to violence while also lacking common sense. I’m not implying that an older criminal would make better decisions, but with age comes a better understanding or reasoning along with NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
The Colorado Auto theft Investigators Association (CATI) recognizes that “Officer Safety” training is a critical tool for our members. Officer safety topics should and must be included in our training curriculums. These topics should be emphasized just like the other classes we provide, such as recognizing VIN switched or cloned vehicles. While missing a VIN switched vehicle may prove to be embarrassing, it will not stop you from going home safely at the end of your shift. I believe that auto theft organizations need to start thinking outside the box when it comes to providing innovative training for our members. CATI has invited officer safety experts to speak at our yearly conference while also sponsoring hands-on training classes throughout the state. The Colorado Automobile Theft Prevention Authority (CATPA) recognizes the heightened need for specialization of law enforcement and insurance investigator’s training. This specialized training encourages a collaborative approach on vehicle theft and related crimes investigations. CATPA highly values its partnership with the Colorado Auto Theft Investigators, as CATI is a centerpiece in providing specialized training to auto theft investigators. CATI also strongly promotes multi-agency communication and collaborative efforts between CATPA partners and the public. CATPA has observed that CATI offers opportunities that are unique, progressive and oftentimes exceed other state and national standards for the investigation of auto theft and related crimes. CATI and CATPA continue to work together to ensure that the state’s taxpayer dollars invested in our organization are used wisely. ■ 37
WESTERN REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS
WSATI | SOUTHERN NEVADA CHAPTER By Robert DuVall, Nationwide
Bthe famous Las Vegas axiom that “what y now, I am sure everyone has heard
happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” There are many tourists that visit our great city who hope it is true. For law enforcement, however, that statement is far from the truth; what happens in Vegas has probably already happened in many of the cities in California and Arizona as well as the reverse. Geography can be a funny thing. If you look at a map of the United States, you can plainly see that Nevada, California and Arizona are inextricably linked. At the same time, we are also separated by different state and local governments, competing businesses, and miles and miles of desert. To be successful at what we do, catching crooks, we have find ways to bridge that separation. In the mid 90’s, Las Vegas started to rise in the NICB auto theft rankings. Many new tactics were tried, but by the end of 2005, Southern Nevada was number two in the nation for stolen vehicles. The next year we advanced again, taking the number one spot in the nation. No police jurisdiction wants to be number one in any crime category, and for a county that relies on tourism as its top industry, the distinction was even worse. We had to find ways to be more effective at investigating and abating stolen vehicles. Clearly, things had to change. The next four years saw a dramatic change in the way Las Vegas police attacked the crime of auto theft. This change eventually caused our city drop from the number one ranking all the way to number 27. We did not come about this change by ourselves. No, we sought advice from many in the states we are linked to – California and Arizona. Of course, we cannot forget our friends in Texas helped us out a great deal as well. All too often in law enforcement, however, competing interests and new priorities can deconstruct even the most successful programs. As the effort toward
38
Left to right: John Bartolone – WRC – IAATI President/ Supervising Investigator CA DMV Investigations; Jeff Toschi – VIPER/Director WSATI Southern Nevada Chapter; JJ Harison – CarMax – Regional Loss Prevention Director; Mick O’Neil – Hagerty Insurance – 1st Vice President WRC-IAATI; Brett Baumbach - NICB Agent; Dennis Frias – Past President WRC-IAATI / Locator Technologies; Anthony Ko – Locator Technologies auto theft abatement in Southern Nevada police commanders toward auto theft, Jeff began to decrease because of different is always looking for ways to keep ahead priorities, the theft rate began to increase. of the thieves, and he brought forth an That was no surprise, because one thing idea on how to do this. Det. Toschi wants I learned while working auto theft in to bridge the distance between Southern Southern Nevada is that once a city is Nevada and our auto theft partners in deemed a viable target for auto thieves, California and Arizona. He wants to it will always be a viable target for auto start the Southern Nevada Chapter of the thieves. So the question now is how do we Western States Auto Theft Investigators. stay ahead of thieves during a time when This is not a new idea to Southern Nevada, personnel and equipment to abate auto but past attempts in Nevada always theft are diminishing? seemed to fail. We don’t have the personDetective Jeff Toschi may have found nel or equipment they seem to have in an answer. Det. Toschi is an investigator other states. But if you know the tenacity with the Southern Nevada auto theft effort of Det. Toschi, it is a foregone conclusion that is known as VIPER. He was with that this time it will succeed. the unit during the good times when Las I had the honor of being one of the peoVegas fell from number one in the nation, ple Det. Toschi discussed his simple, yet and he has stayed with the unit, fighting brilliant, idea with. I have retired from law the good fight, during the not-so-good enforcement, but I am not so far removed times. Despite shrinking attention from Continued on next page THE APB
CHAPTER PRESIDENT - MICHAEL O’NEILL
Robert Duval, Nationwide
Jeff Toschi, VIPER
from police work that I could not see Jeff had a great plan for the Southern Nevada chapter of WSATI. As a Special Projects Consultant for Nationwide, I have traveled throughout California, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, as well as my own state of Nevada, and here is what I have learned: we are all talking about many of the same things. When you look at it from that perspective, one thing is very clear: as usual,
communication is the key to staying ahead of the thieves. WSATI is the tool that relies on that basic premise of increasing communication. It is exactly how we can bridge the gap between various police departments in Nevada, Arizona and California. It is how we can stay in touch, stay abreast of current trends, discuss things that are happening here, and may soon happen some-
where else. It is a great tool for communication. It was no surprise that Jeff also contacted both Western Regional Chapter IAATI members and WSATI members from our geographical neighbors who were all too eager to help us out. WRC – President and WSATI Past President John Bartolone, WRC – Past President and WSATI Past President Dennis Frias, and WRC-IAATI 1st Vice President and WSATI Vice President Mick O’Neill were here in an instant and the conversation started. Key players in Southern Nevada had to be involved: the Nevada Insurance Council, the IASIU, the NICB, and Southern Nevada law enforcement, with personnel from each entity pledging support. With that support and with the help of our neighbors, the Southern Nevada WSATI Chapter was born. Only time will tell if this newest WSATI chapter will have success. But, we feel confident that by keeping communication key, and continuing to work with all of our partners in California, Arizona, and the other western states, this newest chapter will achieve our goal or reducing auto theft. ■
WRC Awards from page 35 confidential sources that Monsivais was involved in trafficking narcotics and it is believed some of the VIN switched vehicles were utilized for this purpose. A total of 18 arrests were made during this investigation, six of which were juveniles often arrested multiple times. A total of 15 recovered vehicles were insurance claims. Two search warrants were served at two residences in addition to surveillance, probation searches and 2805 VC inspections conducted at 12 additional locations in Riverside, Moreno Valley, Jurupa Valley and Perris. Search warrants were also authored for seized electronic evidence. This investigation required extensive surveillance, use of confidential informants, and total collaboration with patrol and station crime analysts to disseminate details of this investigation to identify related suspects and additional stolen vehicles. Jose Garcia “Gordo” has since pled guilty to 6 years’ county jail with 10 years mandatory supervision and Gerardo Monsivais “Tavo” pled guilty to 13.5 years’ prison. Vehicle theft within the city of Jurupa Valley has decreased 33% since the conclusion of this investigation. Please let us all congratulate the Riverside Auto-Theft Interdiction Detail (RAID) on this accomplishment! ■
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
39
WESTERN REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS
ARIZONA AUTO THEFT & INSURANCE FRAUD SEMINAR September 11-15, 2017
Submitted by Ann Armstrong, Arizona Auto Theft Authority. Photos courtesy of Amanda O’Halloran, Staff Photographer, Arizona Auto Theft Authority.
Talong with the Bullhead City Police Department, Arizona Auhe Arizona Auto Theft Investigators Association (AATIA),
tomobile Theft Authority (AATA) and International Association of Special Investigations Units (AZ. Chapter) hosted their 2017 Auto Theft & Insurance Fraud Seminar September 11th – 15th in Laughlin, Nevada. This year’s Seminar was attended by nearly 150 law enforcement, insurance fraud, and criminal justice partners from across Arizona, Nevada, California, and as far away as Maryland and Michigan. IAATI’s Western Region Chapter Officers were also in attendance for meetings and specialized training. AATIA Board President, DPS Sgt. Bob Bowers kicked off Opening Ceremonies with the Posting of the Colors by the Arizona DPS Honor Guard and a welcome by the city’s Police Chief, Brian Williamson. AATA Executive Director, Fred Zumbo provided remarks about the importance of training and networking in our fields. Newly elected IAATI President JD Hough addressed attendees and encouraged all to get involved with the local and/or International Associations to further our mission to combat auto theft globally. Training classes included the “The Winning Mind” presentation by Dave “JD Buck Savage” Smith, Harley Davidson & ATV Sport Bike Identification, Heavy Equipment Identification, Case presentations on “Operation Tin Man,” Cargo Theft, Street Racers & Auto Thefts, LEADS Online, Cross Border Vehicle Theft Trends, Auto Fraud and Sub-Leasing, Accident Fraud Investigations, Undercover Operations and Offer Up. Each class offered a wealth of information and wonderful opportunities to network and make 40
THE APB
CHAPTER PRESIDENT - MICHAEL O’NEILL
connections with various law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The President’s Reception took place Thursday evening with dinner and an Awards Ceremony, including WSATI’s Lee S. Cole Officer of the Year Award, presented to Jeff Clements with CHP. NICB presented a plaque to Scott Blum with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for the successful prosecution of the suspects in Operation “Tin Man”. Officer Robert Baraban
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
with the Phoenix Police Department was awarded the AATIA President’s Award. The Arizona Auto Theft Authority gave the Professional Excellence Award to AZDPS Trooper, Braden McBride – congratulations to them all! Thank you to the Seminar Exhibitors who attended and provided presentations on their services, programs and equipment. A BIG thank to the numerous Sponsors who helped make this year’s Seminar such a HUGE success!! n
41
WESTERN REGIONAL CHAPTER NEWS
WRC- IAATI ANNUAL BOARD MEETING AND AATIA CONFERENCE 2017 By WRC Past President John Bartalone
Othe Arizona Auto Theft Investigator’s Association (AATIA).
n September 13, 2017, WRC-IAATI held its annual meeting at
The conference was scheduled from September 11, when individuals registered, through September 14, in Laughlin Nevada at the Aquarius Hotel. Presiding over the conference was current AATIA President Bob Bowers. In attendance were current IAATI President JD Hough, 2016-2017 WRC President John Bartolone, 2016-2017 WRC 1st Vice President Mick O’Neil, 2016-2107 WRC 3rd Vice President Carmen Swanson, WRC Treasurer Rick Greenwood, WRC Past President Dennis Frias, WRC Past President Gary Labb, WRC Annette Jacobs, WRC Rick Spallinger and a host of others. During the conference a multitude of classes were held for both beginning Auto Theft Investigators and Advanced Auto Theft Investigators. The attendees were privileged to see the opening speaker Dave Smith also known as “JD” Buck Savage and the infamous Bob Kinney. On September 13, during the WRC-IAATI Annual Meeting
42
various topics were discussed such as membership, which at the time was 703 members, finances which WRC-IAATI is in good financial standing and a new board was elected and is now in place as follows: WRC – IAATI President WRC – IAATI 1st Vice President WRC – IAATI 2nd Vice President WRC – IAATI 3rd Vice President Treasurer Associate Director Associate Director Associate Director Associate Director
Mick O’Neil Wendell Takata Carmen Swanson Kristopher Krusey Rick Greenwood Melissa Somers Robert Duval Todd Wolf Chandler Stewart
If you are interested in considering a seat on the board in the future you may contact the sitting President Mick O’Neil at moneill@hagerty.com . ■
THE APB
CHAPTER PRESIDENT - MICHAEL O’NEILL
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
43
ATPA NEWS THE SUNSET REVIEW By Detective Bill Johnson, Arvada Co PD, President CATI, 1st Vice President IAATI
Eously passed legislation to determine whether it should stay in very ten years, the Colorado State legislature reviews previ-
effect for another ten years. This process is known as the “Sunset Review” and is very important to the citizens of Colorado, Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority (CATPA) and the Colorado Auto Theft Investigators Association (CATI), as well as many other organizations such as the Auto Theft Intelligence Coordination Center and our public education partners, the Coloradoans Against Auto Theft. CATPA has been preparing for this review since its 2007 inception. Most state legislatures have a similar provision to review the work of their Auto Theft Prevention Authorities (ATPAs). In Colorado, this periodic review is done to ensure that the public funds invested in supporting enacted legislation are sufficient, being used wisely, and more importantly, are producing the desired results. The actual review is conducted by the Department of Regulatory Affairs and includes an analysis of the financial books, the various grants, motor vehicle crimes statistics and interviews with various stakeholders in the program. The final report is handed over to the state legislature who determines what, if any, changes are to be made to the statute or CATPA. In order to understand the success that CATPA and its grantees have had in combating motor vehicle crimes, one must understand Colorado’s motor vehicle crimes background. In 2003, the state of Colorado was ranked 9th in the nation as most likely to be a victim of a motor vehicle crime. During that year, Colorado citizens reported more than 22,669 motor vehicle thefts to law enforcement agencies. In 2004, Colorado saw a 13 percent increase in reported motor vehicle thefts. Members of Colorado’s first part-time funded motor vehicle crime investigations team, Denver Metro Auto Theft Team (DMATT), participated in a variety of investigations. Participating law enforcement agencies at that time included Arvada, Sheridan, Grand Junction, Colorado State Patrol, Northglenn, Colorado Department of Parks, Commerce City, Weld County, Greeley, Johnstown, Colorado Springs, Fountain, El Paso, Pueblo and the Colorado Attorneys General’s Office. DMATT was led by the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) while the southern part of the state, a separate team was led by Colorado Springs Police and CSP. In 2005, the Colorado motor vehicle theft rate climbed to an all-time high. The estimated financial loss from this historic climb exceeded $156 million. During that year, the CATPA bill was introduced to the state legislature with the support of Senator Betty Boyd, CATI and various insurance groups and law enforcement agencies. Creating CATPA was an organization goal of CATI’s executive 44
boards for many years. CATPA presented itself as a way to fund full and part-time motor vehicle crimes task forces, purchase needed equipment, support Officers training and provide public educational programs – all with the goal of reducing motor vehicle crimes. Although CATI, with the assistance of the International Associations of Detective Bill Johnson Auto Theft Investigators was successful in getting the initial legislation passed in 2005, the funding mechanism attached to the statute required that the funding be strictly voluntary and at least $100,000 had to be donated prior to the statute becoming law. Those two caveats could have been a death knell for CATPA, but insurance partners stepped in. State Farm Insurance donated approximately $450,000 and Country Financial Insurance donated another $10,000 to initiate the statute into law and provide for CATPA’s first budget. The task forces created by CATPA grants then recovered over 153 stolen vehicles in the first six months of operations and arrested 86 persons, charging them with motor vehicle crimes. In 2006, CATPA grants were expanded into the area of public education which led to the creation of Coloradans Against Auto Theft (CAAT). CAAT is a coalition of law enforcement agencies, insurance partners, LoJack™ and AAA of Colorado. This coalition plays a major role in reducing motor vehicle theft by educating the public about simple steps they can take to reduce their chances of becoming a motor vehicle crimes victim. In 2006, CATPA along with all Coloradoans noticed a steep reduction of 20 percent in motor vehicle crimes while the rest of the nation only experienced a 3.4 percent reduction. In 2007 CATPA, with the full support of all stakeholders, returned to the Colorado legislature and requested a modification to the statute creating CATPA. The goal was to replace the voluntary funding mechanism with a more stable source of revenue. An agreement was made which allowed CATPA to collect a $1 per insured vehicle in Colorado to fund its budget. This agreement excluded construction vehicles, fleet vehicles, motorcycles, trailers and rental vehicles. With these exclusions currently in place, CATPA is only able to collect about $4 million a year to replenish its coffers. In 2008, thanks to the CATPA grants, Colorado had fallen from 9th in the nation for motor vehicle thefts to 23rd. The mandatory $1 per vehicle Colorado insurance surcharge allowed CATPA to grant funding for full-time motor vehicle crimes task forces. The change to a full-time investigatory task force resulted in 368 arrests for motor vehicle crimes while recovering $11,313,933 in stolen vehicles. Continued on next page THE APB
ATPA NEWS IF YOU KNEW WHERE AUTO THEFT ENDED, WOULD YOU START LOCKING YOUR CAR? n Average of 347 Vehicles are Stolen in Colorado Each Week. AColoradans Against Auto Theft’s New Campaign Reminds
Drivers of the Violent Crimes Fueled by Auto Theft Denver, Colo. (July 24, 2017) — In observance of National Auto Theft Prevention Month, Coloradans Against Auto Theft (CAAT) is launching a statewide public awareness campaign, reminding drivers about the importance of not making themselves an easy target for car thieves. The “Lockdown Your Car” campaign informs the public about the domino effect that often occurs when a car is left unlocked. Not only can this result in car theft, but also fuels other crimes such as armed robbery, home invasion and drug-related offenses. 97 percent of car thieves charged with auto theft are also charged with other crimes. “Colorado’s crime rate is on the rise and that includes a significant increase in auto theft, which often is involved in other crimes,” says Colonel Scott Hernandez, Chief of the Colorado State Patrol. “Trends show auto theft rates spike from July through December. That’s why statewide law enforcement agencies are joining forces with our communities this summer
to spread important safety messages and help drivers recognize how commonsense measures such as locking their cars can help reduce violence across the state.” According to the Auto Theft Intelligence Coordination Center (ATICC), 18,047 vehicles were stolen statewide in Colorado in 2016, up more than 20 percent over 2015 and more than 55 percent over 2014. ATICC’s 2016 annual report indicates that Friday and Monday showed the highest levels of auto theft, while Sunday showed the lowest. The top two locations for vehicles to be stolen from were residences and parking lots, including garages. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s (NICB) latest Hot Spots report, Pueblo, Colorado took the number two spot for vehicle theft in the country in 2016. • The campaign features a new radio and television spot, as well as digital ads. You can see our new tv spot at: http://lockdownyourcar.org/auto-theft-news/videos/ • We are using #LockItOrLoseIt, #LockdownYourCar and #NationalAutoTheftPreventionMonth to track online conversations with other agencies and task forces on Twitter. Our prevention program's handle is @StopAutoTheftCO. • Twitter: @StopAutoTheftCO • Facebook: @ColoradansAgainstAutoTheft Editor’s Note: Thanks for this article go to Robert Force, Executive Director of the Colorado ATPA and to Reg Phillips, Chair of IAATI’s ATPA Committee.
SUNSET REVIEW, continued from previous page
Between 2010 and 2014, CATPA’s reporting requirements from grantees were used to measure the overall success of awarded funds. In summary, the program: • Accounted for the recovery of 5,168 stolen vehicles valued at $38,264,677 • Demonstrated a venture return for recovered stolen vehicles at $1.47 for every CATPA dollar invested • Facilitated the arrest of 2,208 persons charged with motor vehicle theft • Resulted in 3,563 felony charges of motor vehicle theft and 753 misdemeanor charges • Performed 385 Bait Car operations • Resulted in 348 major case investigations • Enabled 51 complex case investigations under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act (COCCA)
• Generated 3,450 criminal intelligence products to support auto theft case investigations • Created criminal intelligence sharing amongst law enforcement investigators by installing a CJIS compliant centralized auto theft database • Fused 96 various law enforcement agencies with partnership to address the mission of CATPA • Produced 96 special auto theft training courses and educated 2,088 law enforcement personnel
• Purchased automated license plate reader systems (ALPRS) assisting in the recovery of 855 stolen vehicles valued at $6.5 million. • The efficiency level demonstrated $0.93 of recovery value for every capture read performed by the ALPRS. • Distributed prevention and education awareness products including 16,340,569 media releases • Generated 58,339,979 social media impressions • Funded 121,765 printed materials • Supported two public surveys
Continued on next page NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
45
ATPA NEWS SUNSET REVIEW continued As the nationwide recession began to take hold, the Colorado legislature decided to de-emphasize property crimes and cut incarceration rates as a way to save money. Various law enforcement agencies also began reallocating man power from property crimes to other areas needing attention. This has undoubtedly contributed to the current increase in motor vehicle crimes rates nationwide. A few of the offenders are engaging in a serious game of stealing as many vehicles as possible and fleeing from law enforcement without the usual monetary inducement. These offenders realize that the changes to Colorado statute allows for several “strikes” before they are held accountable for their actions. Another factor that many people tend to overlook in the increased motor vehicle crimes is the psychological profile of today’s offender. Today’s offender is younger, with fewer inhibitions against using violence on victims or law enforcement; they display a lack of respect towards law enforcement and exhibit enjoyment in causing problems for their victims by committing crimes. CATI’s executive board took notice of this trend and began to phase out the traditional term we had used to describe our investigations (“auto theft investigations”). CATI encouraged the use of a term that more accurately reflects our investigations (“motor vehicle crimes investigations”). Rarely is the theft of a vehicle limited to just the crime of motor vehicle theft. Agencies often recover evidence in the vehicle linked to burglary, robbery, homicide, trespass, identity theft, mail theft, theft, narcotics violations, firearms violations and assaults among others. In most cases, grantees are driven by the need to demonstrate effectiveness through an increase in arrests or decrease in motor vehicle thefts to justify their CATPA funding. Some grantees will consider any crime that fall outside of the definition of a motor vehicle theft as 46
outside of their scope of investigative responsibilities. Grantees must understand that the state legislature, the public and agency administrators will only view motor vehicle theft as a property crime unless investigators are able to demonstrate its connections to other criminal activities. One may ask why they would want to use investigative resources on a non-motor vehicle theft case. Most investigators and supervisors would rather turn the non-motor vehicle crime part of the investigation over to another unit or agency. While in some cases, this may be the appropriate course of action, it is not in all the cases. While non-motor vehicle crime investigations can be tedious and a long-term commitment, grantees should understand that it could lead to a greater appreciation of the $1 investment by the public and more importantly, the state legislature. By limiting the investigation to the crime of motor vehicle theft, agencies are losing the opportunity to demonstrate the true impact motor vehicle crime has on other criminal activities. On occasion, it will be the secondary crime that will demonstrate the importance of having a motor vehicle crime investigations task force that can assist in other areas of a connected criminal investigation. How many times have we heard of an Officer who recovered a stolen vehicle, but left evidence in the vehicle to be disposed of by the owner? If there was any evidentiary value in that property left in the vehicle, the agency may have just jeopardized the investigation. The agency will never know what other crimes might have been solved because the recovered property was mishandled for whatever reason. The media, citizens and some members of the Colorado legislature are wondering if they are getting their money’s worth out of the CAPTA and the programs they fund. Crime statistics associated with motor vehicle thefts should be collected, investigated and displayed in conjunction with the motor vehicle theft crime numbers. This would clearly
assist in demonstrating the connection between motor vehicle thefts and other crimes to the state legislature and other vested parties. There are many examples of investigations that led far away from the initial motor vehicle theft complaint. One case involved a suspect who had attempted a business trespass by driving a vehicle through a fenced-in storage lot. The suspect began loading items onto his stolen trailer, but was scared away by Officers walking a foot patrol due to a recent increase of criminal activity in the area. Later that same morning, the owner of the truck filed a motor vehicle theft report with their local law enforcement agency. This is not an unusual way for a motor vehicle theft investigation to begin. The next day, after obtaining a search warrant for the truck/trailer, the agency began to process them for evidence. During the search of the truck a cell phone was discovered. Upon obtaining a second search warrant for the cell phone, the agency downloaded the cell phone’s contents. Pictures on the cell phone revealed several illegal photographs of a young child being sexually assaulted by an unknown male. Since the identity of the child, the location of the assault and the identity of the male suspect were unknown, detectives were obligated to follow up on the evidence as quickly as possible. One piece of evidence obtained, in addition to the pictures, was the date and time occurrence of the assaults due to the date stamp. There was not enough evidence to refer the case to another jurisdiction. After completing several investigative steps, detectives were eventually able to determine that the owner of the truck matched the male in several of the pictures from the cell phone, but the owner was missing as he had separated from his wife and therefore, not residing at the address listed on his vehicle registration. However, the suspect’s wife identified the cell phone along with Continued on next page THE APB
INDUSTRY NEWS
WELCOME GEORGE H. BAKER TO THE GLOBAL SAFETY CENTER Editor’s Note: I recently spoke with OnStar’s George Baker, whom some of you may recall as a recent IAATI member and speaker at our annual conferences. He told me with mixed emotion that he’s been selected by GM to fill the role of liaison to the international auto theft investigation community. He was a close personal friend of Bill Biondo and his family and delivered a eulogy on behalf of GM at Bill’s beautiful memorial ceremony. George admits that Bill is irreplaceable, but he will do everything possible to honor Bill’s remarkable legacy by professionally and energetically supporting our association and its members. Below is the internal GM announcement:
PGlobal Safety Center as the Vehicle Performance Owner lease welcome George H. Baker to the
(VPO) for Global Vehicle Security reporting to Larry Kwiecinski – Senior Manager Global Safety Center. George will be
SUNSET REVIEW continued the pictures of the male as her husband. Upon showing the pictures of the interior of the location where the child was assaulted, she was able to identify the location as her residence. When she was asked about the date stamp on the pictures, she was able to recall that her husband was babysitting his mistress’s twin daughters on that date. The wife also indicated that the mistress had been in contact with social services regarding the welfare of her children. After calls to various county social services agencies, detectives located her case worker along NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
responsible for developing global security strategies for vehicle products based on theft trends, law enforcement input, public policy initiatives, and cost of ownership targets. He will work closely with the cyber security team as well to ensure security strategy alignment with dotted line reporting to Kevin Tierney – Director, Product Cybersecurity. George most recently was part of OnStar as the Global Emergency Services Outreach Manager responsible for developing and maintaining OnStar’s strategic and operational relationships with the Public Safety community globally. Before joining General Motors in 1995, George, a graduate of West Point and Harvard University, served in the U.S. Army as tank company commander and Russian liaison officer. George’s GM career has ranged from locomotive program manager in Mexico and automotive country manager in Russia to Director of GM Military Trucks.” ■
with the mother and her children. The male suspect was located and arrested just prior to him fleeing the state with the mistress and the victim. After interviewing the mistress and subsequently showing her pictures of the sexual assault, she was able to identify the twin who was the victim. The suspect eventually pled guilty to 1st degree assault on a child rather than risk being convicted of sexual assault of a child and sentenced to prison. This is one example of how far a criminal investigation can deviate from the initial motor vehicle theft complaint, but many such cases exist. This case demon-
strates the spectrum of criminal activity that can be associated with what appears to be a simple motor vehicle crime investigation. The various ATPAs and grantees need to show this type of linkage between motor vehicle and various other crimes. The public and state legislature will be able to appreciate the true impact ATPAs and their grantees have on the overall crime rate in their respective states. ATPAs and grant recipients must take every opportunity to prove to the public and state legislature that the current investment does have a far reaching impact in motor vehicle theft as well as other areas of criminal activity. ■ 47
The APB P.O. Box 223 Clinton, NY 13323
Past Presidents in attendance at the seminar: (L-R) Hans Kooijman; Todd Blair; John O’Byrne; Christopher McDonold; Robert Hasbrouck; Stephen Gobby; Philip Crepeau; Jerry Cole