DETECTIVE Constable Chris Piggott has been announced as the first recipient of the CEA CESAR Champion Award for police officers.
Earlier this year the CEA launched the initiative to recognise the efforts of officers who use CESAR technology to identify a stolen piece of machinery.
In an effort to encourage more officers to engage with the CESAR Security Scheme, the award is now being given to any officer who completes ten checks on construction or agricultural machines or ATV’s protected with the security system.
DC Piggott is attached to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS). He has completed over 200 machine checks on the CESAR database to help identify suspected stolen machines and was presented with his award by Datatag plant specialist Nick Mayell.
DC Piggott said, “I’ve found the CESAR system to be very helpful in identifying stolen machines, especially where offenders have cloned or altered the identity of a machine. As a quick and simple way to identify a machine at the roadside, CESAR cannot be beaten.”
The CESAR Scheme, which is powered by Datatag technology, is a multi-layered system that includes tamper-evident warning and registration plates, RFID transponders, a microdot identification system comprising between 500 and 1,000 microdots which are scattered around the machine, and forensic DNA.
Once fitted, these technologies are said to be ‘almost impossible’ to remove, and when the machine is registered on Datatag’s database, the details are accessible to the police, enabling them to identify any machine at the roadside. The CESAR website also has a ‘hot button’ to instantly report stolen machinery.
Dave Luscombe, CEA’s head of special projects, added, “Police officers are the power behind the success of the CESAR Scheme and we are keen to reward officers, who engage with CESAR to help the industry fight back against plant and machinery theft. Any officer who completes 10 checks via the Datatag 24 hour contact centre will be awarded one of these exclusive badges and stake their claim as a CESAR Champion.”
