Enigma Telematics, the mobile asset tracking and security specialist, has become a sponsor of PANIU, the Metropolitan Police’s specialist Plant and Agriculture Unit.
PANIU was set-up in October 2008 as a national focal point for the fight against plant and machinery theft.
It is estimated that the theft of construction plant and agricultural machinery costs £1m a week in the UK and potentially £4.5 billion annually across Europe.
Police often find it hard to locate and recover stolen plant and machinery. PANIU aims to assist the police with the identification of stolen plant, through proactive, intelligence-led operations against known criminal networks.
As a sponsor of PANIU, Enigma will provide intelligence and technical support.
Although the cost of replacing stolen plant and machinery is often covered by insurance, it is the cost of staff downtime and delays, plus arise in insurance premiums, which can effect a business’ profitability.
Historically, manufacturers have not fitted security devices to plant and machinery, even large, mobile pieces. If the user does not take steps to improve security after purchase, then expensive vehicles and plant can be vulnerable to site thefts.
Based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, Enigma Telematics recently saw its 21st year in business and provides solutions to help companies track, trace and monitor their mobile assets.
Enigma’s Skyline system is Thatcham-approved that to date has helped to recover over £100m of stolen assets. This includes the recent recovery of twelve brand new mini-diggers worth about £200,000 that were stolen from an industrial estate in Maidstone, Kent but recovered by the police, who used real-time location data provided by Skyline.
Ian Keam-George, CEO of Enigma Telematics said, “Many businesses don’t realise the threat posed by equipment theft until it is too late, so we are really pleased to work with PANIU to try and help companies to increase their resilience to this type of crime.”
Further information on the products and services provided by Enigma Telematics is available at www.enigmatelematics.com.
