National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

However, there are also factors that have a limiting effect. The offence is
assigned a higher priority by the police and the judicial authorities than was
previously the case, not only in the Netherlands, but at EU level as well.
In addition, better and better security equipment is being introduced and
entrepreneurs are becoming more and more convinced that it is important
to take measures. The number of secure car parks for lorry drivers is constantly
increasing. Tarpaulin trailers are used less often and tarpaulins that are reinforced
with steel wire are now available as well.
If we consider quantitative development of cargo theft, we can see that there
has been a downward trend for a number of years in a row. Only the tarpaulincutting
method had a peak in 2006. Incidentally, it is assumed that that peak
was a recording effect. In view of the intended measures and the feeling of
urgency that exists with regard to this offence, it is very possible that the
downward trend will continue in the near future. However, the overall
damage suffered is expected to remain considerable.
4.4.7 Conclusion
The development of cargo theft in the next four years is difficult to establish. Some
factors point towards a further reduction of the phenomenon, whilst there are
also signals that an increase is more likely. When considering the qualification of
the threat level, the scale of the damage, the nature of the criminal organisations
involved and the (internal) corruption in the transport sector itself all play a role.
Ever since cargo theft was made one of the subjects of the NTA four years ago,
the feeling of urgency has grown. This has resulted in measures that caused a
reduction in the number of cargo thefts reported to the police. Now, the reports
often only represent the tip of the iceberg and an unknown dark number exists.
This means that we are not sure whether the drop in the number of reports to the
police reflects an actual drop in the number of thefts. One of the measures taken
has been to build secure car parks. This measure is effective as regards the
prevention of theft by ‘external’ offenders. The extensive internal involvement,
however, makes it possible to avoid the security provided by these car parks. The
use of decoy cars has recently proven to be successful. Nevertheless, whether
decoy cars are so successful that we will see the success reflected in the statistics
still remains to be seen. The transport sector is an important sector for the Dutch
economy, and it is expected to grow in the coming years. This will result in more
opportunities for cargo theft. Popular articles such as computers, flat-screen
TVs and other consumer electronics have a relatively large share in the volume
transported in the Netherlands. For thieves these are attractive articles that are
easy to sell. The scale of the total damage is significant. In addition to the financial
consequences, this also includes all kinds of indirect damage. Despite the observed
158 National Threat Assessment 2008 – Organised crime