Carney - Securing the outdoor construction site: strategy, prevention, and mitigation

1. Figures in Chapter 1
2. Figures in Chapter 2
3. Figures in Chapter 4
4. Figures in Chapter 7
5. Figures in Chapter 8
6. Figures in Chapter 10

Kevin Wright Carney

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To William Wright Carney

1st Lieutenant, U.S. Army, WWII and Korea

And a hell of an engineer

Requiescat in Pace, Pater Meus

Kevin Wright Carney, CPP, BA, OSJ, Sergeant (Retired), Los Angeles Sheriffs Department, Member ASIS International and Certified Protection Professional, Newbury Park, California, USA

I dont write like other people. I dont intend to impress anyone with lofty words or vaguely high-sounding concepts designed to make you think that whats left of my Irish brain is smarter than it really is. Im old enough and ornery enough and have enough letters after my name to write the way that I think and speak.

What I offer is a down-to-earth assessment of what I see as an extremely costly nuisance that plagues every country in the world where there is construction of large outdoor capital projects, that is, roads, freeways, bridges, overpasses, runways, and just about anything that is made of concrete, steel, and other expensive stuff and that is designed to sit outside and last a very long time. This also includes concrete batch plants, government-sponsored concept projects, gravel yards, and gravel mines. The costly nuisance that I speak of would be theft of everything from steel and copper, to piles of gravel and sand, to huge pieces of heavy machinery equipment. Although some statistics exist, the cost of these thefts is nearly impossible to calculate worldwide, because it goes beyond the cost of the materiel and equipment that is stolen. It extends to the lost profit and construction delays when vital materials and machinery are missing at the beginning of a construction day.

An assessment is virtually worthless without suggested remedies, which I will proffer in this book. The remedies that I suggest are what I see as logical solutions to this theft epidemic and for the most part can be applied worldwide. They are not the only possible answers. Everyone solves problems based on their unique background and experience, and if you come up with a better solution, then by all means, go for it. Just think it through first, hopefully using some of the principles in this book, so that it works for your site.

My background began as a law enforcement officer and leader, with more than 23 years of experience before I retired. You would think that with that kind of experience, I would have arrested hundreds of construction thieves over the course my career. The fact is that I never arrested anyone, even once, for stealing from a construction site. Does that mean that I was a lazy cop? Not hardly. The fact as I see it looking back was that I didnt know what to look for and may have driven by crimes in progress that I didnt recognize as criminal activity. But I will get into that as the book progresses.

I did not even think about theft from construction projects until I started my second career in the security business. Even then I didnt think about it much until I became the general manager of a security and investigations corporation, which, among other things, handles the security for large outdoor construction projects. I learned that anything can and does happen in the construction industry, and if you are not flexible and prepared, youd better be prepared to be responsible for some hefty but preventable losses.

I have outlined information and strategies here that should be helpful to every reader who buys this book. I hope you find value in it. If you have any involvement in construction, then this should be a good read.

As a note, if you are in any way involved in securing outdoor construction projects, I highly recommend joining ASIS International. This worldwide organization is composed of tens of thousands of professionals from all fields who come together to share ideas and to provide education and training in the security field. Not only will you increase your knowledge of the security field, but you will also meet some really nice people and attend some great events.

1. Security professionals: Our clients are paying us with money that is taken away from their bottom line. We owe it to them to prove that every dime they have paid us to provide security services represents a positive return on their investment. You will find anecdotes from which you can begin to think of ways that you and your security team could have prevented a loss or could prevent a future loss. You will also find strategies and solutions to these problems as I see them. These strategies are not exhaustive but should get you to look at these sites as more than just placing a live scarecrow with a uniform on site or an automatic camera on site, and thinking that is sufficient.