Bobcats are in Danger in New Mexico!

If you were to steal a $20,000 Bobcat from a site in Albuquerque New Mexico, you could sell it for an easy $3,000 with little danger of being caught.

Until now. Before the police and heavy equipment owners and contractors began to pool their resources, that particular crime paid right off. Imagine, $3,000.00 for just a few hours of planning, making off with the booty then telling your buyer where to pick it up and collecting the cash.

A difficult program for bad guys to ignore.

The contractors have been losing serious money every time they are hit, not just from the cost of the equipment but the time lost on the job while they waited for replacements.

Finally, a group of contractors called the APD and asked how they could help to catch the bad guys before the valuable equipment was even removed. In cooperation with builders and contractors, the Albuquerque Police department has set up a very successful tactical plan of surveillance. The most recent (alleged) thieves collared were Edgar Rodriguez and Manuel Flores, who had tried to make off with a Bobcat front loader (generally valued at $20,000) that they planned to sell for $3,000.00.

Stolen heavy equipment is much easier for the bad guys to move than stolen cars, trucks or other registered vehicles because there are no VIN numbers or registration tracks to follow. While these valuable machines each have a serial number, those numbers are not necessarily listed with each machine's current location.