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In
January 1990, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department started
a new cargo theft investigative unit named Cargo CATs, the Cargo Criminal
Apprehension Team. Cargo CATs is assigned to the
Major Crimes Bureau
of the Sheriff’s Department’s Detective Division, which
oversees the team to ensure the maximum utilization of resources.
The pro-active
approach the Department has taken in the past with multi jurisdictional
programs to impact the transient career criminal is the same approach
that is now being applied to the ever increasing cargo theft problem
throughout Los Angeles County and Southern California. The success
demonstrated by Cargo CATs has proven that the surveillance and investigative
abilities of a multi jurisdictional team exceed that of any single
agency. Since Cargo CATs began, it has recovered over $213.5 million
in stolen property and made 1275 arrests, through January 1, 2006.
Program
Objectives
-Increase
arrest, prosecution and conviction of cargo thieves and their receivers.
-Establish
a close working relationship with the cargo, transportation, warehousing,
and insurance industries.
-Recover
and return stolen cargo to the owners.
-Reduce
cargo theft property crimes.
-Reduce
court costs and time by gathering quality evidence to ensure guilty
pleas.
-Develop
intelligence information about the stolen cargo redistribution system.
-Act
as a resource for cargo theft prevention information.
-Establish
a statistical reporting system to accurately reflect the cargo theft
situation.
-Enhance
coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local law
enforcement agencies, as well as cooperation and coordination between
prosecutors, law enforcement, and victims.
-Support
the enactment of mandatory cargo theft reporting laws, along with
development of a statewide cargo theft database.
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