Tapa SA ready to roll

THE SOUTH African chapter of the Transported
Assets Protection Association (Tapa) is ready
to roll.
At an open general meeting arranged by
Tapa SA chairman John Nelson in Boksburg
last week, Tapa EMEA (Europe, Middle East
and Africa) acting chairman David Reid told
delegates that the problems worldwide were
no different from those in South Africa and
that the local community could learn from the
experience of its overseas counterparts.
Central to this, he said, was the need for all
stakeholders – shippers, service providers, law
enforcement, government and the like – to
work together for the common cause.
An example, which he believes could
possibly be mirrored in Johannesburg, was
“Operation Grafton” at Heathrow.
According to Reid, Intel and Samsung had
indicated that they were on the verge of pulling out of
London Heathrow and moving
to Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Individually they held talks with
the UK government but got
nowhere – it took 225 Tapa
members to get things moving.
The problem at Heathrow,
said Reid, was that four police
forces were responsible for
crimes on Heathrow and were
not working together and
sharing intelligence.
The establishment of a
working group to facilitate
information sharing and to put
together minimum standards
saw crime drop by 68%.
Tapa was formed in
1997 in North America by
manufacturers of high value
products to share intelligence
on how to address the growth
in high tech freight crime.
It has since evolved into a
forum for managers to share
professional information for
the mutual benefit of their
companies.