Weekends Are When Forklift Crime Usually Occurs

If your business is targeted by thieves or vandals, it’s more likely to happen over the weekend when there are fewer people around.

Many warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities run 11 shifts per week — AM and PM shifts on weekdays and a single AM shift on Saturdays. Sundays are often the day when most businesses are closed so workers can spend a day with their families.

But that also makes Saturday evenings and Sundays the part of the week with the highest probability of break-ins, theft of unattended property, and other criminal activities.

Sunday Break-In at Florida Business

That was the case for a plumbing business in Tamarac, Florida, last weekend. Five teenagers were caught on videotape breaking into the business, taking a forklift for a joy ride, and stealing two fire extinguishers.

Two 14-year-old, a 15-year-old and two 16-year-old boys first trespassed on the property of Millennium Middle School then broke through a fence to enter Ferguson Plumbing, according to Broward County sheriff’s police spokeswoman Gina Carter.

Three of the teenagers then climbed onto a forklift and began driving it at a high rate of speed in tight circles — or doing “donuts” — in the business’s work yard.

While they were in the business, the youths tripped a silent alarm and police rushed to the scene. But by the time they arrived, the boys had escaped.

Youthful Hijinks Lead to Felony Charges

Investigators later recovered the fire extinguishers, which had been discharged in a nearby wooded area. Police set up a perimeter around the school and the business and the teenagers were later caught.

While the incident may have been the result of childish hijinks, it resulted in hundreds of dollars in damages to the company’s forklift as well as the cost of replacing the fire extinguishers.

Four of the boys face charges of felony burglary, theft, and resisting arrest without violence. One of the youths was charged with misdemeanor trespassing and was issued a civil citation.

Nights, Weekends Most Prone to Crime

According to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, most commercial burglaries occur when the firm business is not open for regular business, such as nights, weekends and holidays.

Other alarming commercial crime statistics includes:

• There is a burglary every 14.6 seconds.
• Burglaries accounted for $4.6 billion in property loss each year.
• 90% of break-ins occur through doors, 6% through windows, 3% through Roofs, and 1% through walls.
• Half of all burglaries occur through unlocked doors.
• Criminals are 2.7 times more likely to target structures without burglar alarm systems.
• Burglars spend an average of  two minutes breaking into a building.
• 60% of all residential burglaries occur during daylight hours.

The FBI also reported that the South had the highest crime rate, with 5,223 offense per 100,000 people, followed by the West (4,879 incidents per 100,000 people), the Midwest (4,379 incidents per 100,000 people); and the Northeast (3,474 incidents per 100,000 people).