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Although the hijacking type of truck theft gets the headlines, the bulk of truck and cargo
thefts don’t happen that way. Nearly every “job” that’s pulled involves unattended,
unguarded trucks and trailers, or employee pilferage.
Enterprising thieves have learned there is a ready market for stolen trucks, trailers, and
their cargoes.
The “joyriding” auto theft theory (when someone steals a car just for a ride in it) doesn’t
apply to truck theft and certainly doesn’t when it comes to trailer theft. These people are
professional criminals.
Objectives of the thieves can vary. Some want only the tractor, in which case the trailer will
usually be found unhooked at the terminal or a short distance from the site of the theft.
More often, the thieves want only the trailer or contents inside. It will generally be stolen
from the terminal or storage area where it is already unhooked from the tractor.
The trailer theft is accomplished by just backing a tractor in, hooking onto the trailer and
driving away.
Often time when cargo is the key objective of the theft, both tractor and trailer are found
abandoned after the goods are removed. But in many instances – thieves just steal it all –
tractor, trailer and cargo.
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