ARA Provides Equipment Theft Training to Law Enforcement

The American Rental Association (ARA) provided equipment theft prevention training to law enforcement officers at the 2026 International Association of Auto Theft Investigators (IAATI) Vehicle Crimes Conference on August 30.

The session focused on rental equipment theft and strategies law enforcement personnel can use to investigate, trace, and recover stolen equipment. It was the ARA’s first Equipment Rental Guard (ERG) training event on an international scale.

“We were here to help teach a class on heavy equipment rental theft and what law enforcement officers can do to help us reduce that, recover the items, and help bridge a gap between our members and the law enforcement community,” said Ryan White, director of theft prevention at ERG.

ERG is the ARA’s theft prevention program. The program connects rental equipment owners with law enforcement through specialized databases, alert systems, and training focused on preventing equipment loss and assisting with asset recovery.

The training covered operational tactics for equipment theft investigations, including identifying serial number locations on machinery such as skid steers, using ERG’s personalized equipment database, and using real-time text alerts to assist with stolen equipment recovery.

“A lot of times our members might not know who to turn to when something has happened, and in the same respect, our law enforcement partners might not know who to turn to when they recover equipment or when something is reported,” White noted. “Our tagline is ‘Keep it safe, Keep it rented,’ and that’s what we’re here to do.”

The IAATI conference drew attendees from across the continent. ARA has also held regional ERG training sessions in Ocala, Florida, and Duluth, Minnesota.

“We’re talking [to people from] coast to coast, even Mexico. This is helping us cast a much wider net,” White added.

According to ARA, conference attendees expressed interest in establishing direct industry contacts and using ERG as a resource for heavy equipment investigations.