Contractors, sheriff combine to fight tool, equipment theft

Plagued by a rising tide of thefts from worksites, construction companies in Washoe County joined with the sheriff 's department to strike back.

They're keeping many of the details of the program quiet, but construction companies have begun marking tools and equipment with distinctive marks.

Each construction company has its own mark, and the list of marks is shared with sheriff 's dispatchers.Dispatchers also have a list of construction company executives they can call, day or night.

That way, an officer who spots construction tools and equipment in a vehicle during a routine stop can quickly learn it's missing, said Larry Collins, a detective with the Washoe County Sheriff 's Office.

The identification system also will help authorities in their efforts to reunite recovered equipment with its owners a process that's often difficult.

"When they come in and pick up their equipment, that's a great feeling for us," Collins said.

The campaign was launched this summer and modeled after a similar successful program in Las Vegas.

When Collins and other sheriff 's officers called the Associated General Contractors Nevada Chapter and the Sierra Nevada Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, they got a quick promise of

assistance.

"Thefts on job sites are running rampant," said Dee Stueve, the AGC staff member who's helping to coordinate the program.

"All our members are being hurt."

The losses ripple throughout a builder's costs.

"This equipment is not cheap.

Every time you put in an insurance claim, your premiums go up," said Stueve.

And Collins noted that the loss of equipment can result in lost time on a job as workers are idled.

Still, the new campaign requires an investment of time by participating companies as they need to mark each tool and each piece of equipment.

That's difficult for companies already hustling to meet the demands of a redhot construction market.

But they are participating, says Clara Andriola, president of Associated Builders and Contractors.

"They are very appreciative of the fact there is something to help them recover their stolen tools and equipment,"Andriola says.

"They feel the program is extremely beneficial to recovering their costly material as well as being a deterrent to on-going theft in the field."