Page 14 - the SyI Quarterly

Our Membership
Copper Cable Theft, Night
Operations and changing
the way forward
By Bob Mogg ASyI
From 2007 onwards, it was recognised from within, that the Openreach
UK telecoms network was estimated to be losing £7 million a year to
the theft of their underground cables, for the copper value inside them.
However, once the costings of staff, overtime, traffic management,
and generally getting people back into service had been taken
into consideration, this figure doubled to approximately £14 million.
In 2010, after 10 years acting as a BT engineer -“Up poles,
and down holes”, I had that feeling of taking on a “new challenge”,
and, after having browsed the internal vacancies spreadsheet,
I emailed my interest to the hiring Manager, and this led to
the most amazing work experience I have had to date. Richard,
the Senior Operations Manager, was tasked with recruiting a security team who had knowledge and experience
of the underground network, to help combat copper cable theft.
Led by the late great Bernie Auguste, Head of Security at Openreach, a Task Force was assembled to take
the metal theft criminals on, and after being introduced by the Openreach Board at the top of the BT Tower,
we set about organising ourselves. It was not a large team, only 26 people covered the entire UK. My area of
responsibility stretched from Cornwall to Eastbourne, and north of that into London.
In the early stages, it was a very fluid situation, with crime incidents being reported thick and fast. It was a very
busy time, with a lot of time spent on the road. The phone would ring, “Bob are you okay to get to Hartlepool
tomorrow for night operations?” - Bag packed and gone.
From arriving at one of the very first crime scenes, it was a quick process of understanding what the MO for
this type of crime would be. A van would turn up at a very remote location, often a country lane, always around
midnight. Under the cover of darkness, the perpetrator would lift the BT/Openreach footway lids and the
copper cable would then be cut. They would then quickly move to a footway box approximately 250 meters
further and cut the same cable there. Following this, nylon rope or metal chains would be secured to the cable,
and the other end would be tied to the back of the van, which the force would then pull the copper cable from
the ducting and it would be towed behind a farmers hedgerow. From here the copper cables would be cut up
into manageable pieces, put into the van and driven away. This became known as the ‘cut and drag’ method,
leaving residential and business customers without service.
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Our initial focus was on education. Law Enforcement had a small,
and in some areas, no knowledge of this type of crime, with the
exception of the British Transport Police. This meant that our
experience needed to be shared extensively with those who
could help us combat the offences. So, I travelled to our Security
Headquarters in Milton Keynes and invested my time into learning
how to deliver presentations, and during the next few years,
delivered presentations on the subject all across the UK. My
personal favourite is a presentation that I delivered at the Netley
Police HQ in Southampton, provided to over 200 police officers,
the Police Commissioner and the farming community.
Whilst I spent much of my time visiting scrap metal dealers,
ensuring they were made aware of these telecoms materials that
were not available for public consumption, court appearances
were frequent, and I saw a number of convictions during my
period.
A breakthrough came after lobbying Government sufficiently in
order to change legislation. The change meant that scrap metal
could no longer be sold for cash and there was now a paper trail
- a game changer for the criminal fraternity, who, surprisingly,
seem to dislike bank accounts. In 2015, after significantly reducing
the problem, it was decided that we would become a permanent
security team, and we were given our official name, ‘Openreach
Security’.
This enabled me to devote my time to the security of the BT
estate and it was during this time, that I broadened my security
knowledge and learnt about CCTV issues, site action plans,
information security, and physical security. During this time, I
also volunteered as the lead for the South of the UK, in pushing
forward the ‘Security Champion initiative’, resulting in over 200
participants.
In 2016, Openreach gave the Security Team a brilliant opportunity,
encouraging us to take the CSMP course. I put my hand up and
following 12 months of learning, proudly took my wife to London
with me to accept my pass certificate.
Soon after leaving the telecoms industry, I visited a security
conference and picked up a leaflet advertising the Security
Institute. The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) theme
particularly struck a chord with me, and since joining I have taken
on the L5 Advanced Diploma in Security Management through the
Security Institute and PerpetuityARC Training - and, wow, what a
challenge. But combined with my CSMP, it is another step in the
right direction for me as a security professional.
One thing is for sure, combined with the Security Institute
membership, and its supportive staff, networking opportunities
and connections built - it certainly packs a punch on the way
forward.