ST. JOHN’S — "There’s a reason they call it organized crime," said RCMP Sgt. Dan Dambrauskas to a crowd of trucking industry leaders at the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association (APTA).

"We have to be organized as a group and as an industry to work together on this."

Evan Dibella of Markel Insurance reiterated the same message when he spoke to the crowd, and stressed the importance of changing the ‘victimless crime’ image of cargo theft.

Indeed. Sgt. Dambrauskas noted that, in addition to other crimes, cargo theft has a strong link to terrorism.

Sgt. Dambrauskas said that for truckers, combating cargo crime simply comes down to common sense. "You are the eyes and ears," he said, explaining that it’s important to be wary of deceptive behavior and truck stop conversations, as well as doing thorough criminal checks on new hires, and meeting them in person.

"Organized crime targets people who work at these companies," he said. Criminals will conduct survellaince on trucking company employees, isolating people who would be willing to take a $50,000 infusing of cash to give up some information.

They’ll also spend days tailing trucks, the RCMP officer said "Some criminals follow trucks for days to figure out routes, fuelling patterns — tag teams are often used."

Still, though, a majority of truck thefts are due to drivers leaving the keys in the ignition while they go for a shower or grab a bite to eat, he said, stressing the importance of common sense.

While the theft of high tech cargo is on the rise, Evan Dibella of Markel Insurance said that they’ve seen an uptick in the theft of every type of cargo — produce, meats, cleaning products, and toilet paper.

The biggest change, however, was the increase in identity theft, Dibella said.

"They acquire a legitimate carrier’s documents," either by grabbing an old computer or fax machine tossed in the garbage and downloading the files, "alter the documents, work on getting a load, pick up the load, and then disappear."

Both Dibella and Sgt. Dambrauskas said one of the most important things was the need for each and every incident of cargo crime to be reported.

Only 40 percent of cargo crime is reported, said Sgt. Dambrauskas, which has an effect on the amount of resources police services put towards the problem.

During the question period, an audience member brought up the issue of not being taken seriously by local police detachments and given the run-around.

"Well, that’s part of my job," said Sgt. Dambrauskas, who said that he has been working to educate and unite police from across the country on the issue.

"Your expectations should be to taken seriously and with respect by your local police," he said in no uncertain terms. "And if you aren’t, there are mechanisms to deal with being sloughed off."