Crime In Road Freight Transport

Transport related crime is a serious and growing problem. The ECMT Council of Ministers’
meetings in Berlin in 1997 and in Warsaw in 1999 discussed the problem and agreed specific
Recommendations on combating it. These are included in this publication.
To follow up these recommendations a multidisciplinary Steering Group on Combating Crime in
Transport, consisting of representatives from different backgrounds (Ministries of Transport,
Economics and Interior, International organisations - EU, UN/ECE, EUROPOL, INTERPOL, police,
customs, insurance, industry, transport operators etc.) was set up in autumn 1999 to make proposals on
how ECMT can contribute to combating transport crime, to suggest priorities for ECMT work and to
guide particular projects that are to be undertaken.
Two immediate priorities were identified. First to obtain and make available comparable
information on transport crime and second to examine how anti-theft devices and communication
systems can be introduced.
This publication summarises the work done so far on these topics and contains the conclusions
adopted by ECMT Ministers in May 2001.
The events of September 11th 2001 have added a new dimension to this subject and undoubtedly,
improving security in transport will need to be a feature of ECMT activities in the future.
ECMT gratefully acknowledges the work of the Steering Group on Combating Crime in
Transport in preparing this report. In particular thanks are due to Ms. Elaine Hardy for her work in
Part I on the Theft of Goods and Goods Vehicles) and to Mr. Frank Heinrich-Jones (Preventive Anti-
Theft Devices for Road Freight Vehicles), Mr. Jean-Pierre Paschal (After-Theft Systems) and
Mr. Dietbert Kollbach (Short Range Vehicle Identification System) for their contributions to Part II of
the publication.