Statistics indicate that theft reports to insurance companies have increased 10 to 20 percent each year since 1996. Over half of all insurance claims involving heavy equipment are thefts. Heavy equipment includes machines commonly used in construction, highway maintenance, farming, agriculture, and forestry. Heavy equipment investigations are complex and frustrating due to nonstandard numbering systems, the absence or inaccuracy of theft reports, and the absence of a source of ownership data for heavy equipment. There is as little as a 10 percent recovery rate for this equipment due to the complex nature of identifying heavy equipment and little or no checks in the used equipment market. A high level of expertise is required to identify a piece of heavy equipment, and this level increases with the type of equipment in question and the thief’s degree of sophistication. The lack of available and accurate data on equipment ownership for law enforcement has contributed to the low recovery rate. With the launch of the National Equipment Register (NER) in August 2001, there has been a resurgence of interest among insurance companies and law enforcement in fighting this crime. NER’s database is linked to ISO ClaimSearch, the insurance industry’s all-claims database operated by Insurance Services Office Inc. (ISO). This allows insurers to pass equipment losses to NER to ensure that the maximum number of losses is reported to NER. By calling NER’s toll-free number, officers can receive assistance with identifying a piece of equipment, locating PINS (Product Identification Number), verifying that the PIN matches the type of equipment in question, and deploying personnel to assist with an investigation. NER’s database of stolen equipment is also available to law enforcement. When determining whether or not to further investigate a piece of equipment found in suspicious circumstances, officers should consider the following “Red Flags:” equipment that has identifying markings removed or painted over; equipment with missing PIN plates; equipment being transported late at night or on weekends or holidays; and new equipment on old transport.