The American Rental Association (ARA) presented equipment theft prevention training at the 2026 International Association of Auto Theft Investigators (IAATI) Vehicle Crimes Conference on August 30.
The training focused on rental equipment theft and provided law enforcement officers with information on investigating, tracing, and recovering stolen machinery. The event marked the ARA’s first Equipment Rental Guard (ERG) training session 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 dedicated theft prevention program and connects rental equipment owners with law enforcement through specialized databases, alert systems, and targeted training.
The session covered several equipment theft investigation tools, including identifying serial number locations on machinery such as skid steers, using ERG’s personalized equipment database, and leveraging real-time text alerts for 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 training attracted attendees from across the continent. ARA has also conducted regional ERG 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.
Conference attendees expressed interest in establishing direct industry contacts and using ERG as a resource for heavy equipment investigations, according to ARA.
Sep 23, 2026
Lift & Access is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
