Cargo Theft’s Private Eyes

“To be a cargo theft investigator, you need to be both passionate and dogged. There’s a misconception out there that if you don’t recover stolen cargo in 48 to 72 hours, you’ll never see it again. We’ve actually made recoveries 30 days, 60 days, even a year later. That’s why you’ve got to be willing to not let go of a case.” –Scott Cornell, national manager, specialty investigations group, Travelers Investigative Services

They don’t carry badges, handcuffs, or firearms. They don’t drive supercharged squad cars or wear matching monochrome suits and sunglasses. Yet they are some of the most potent weapons facing off cargo thieves these days: the Special Investigations Group (SIG) within the Inland Marine division at Travelers Insurance

Organized five years ago, SIG’s mission is twofold – investigate cargo thefts while helping clients adopt policies and procedures to “harden” their operations against such criminal activity. Scott Cornell, today SIG’s national manager, got the group off the group with himself and just one other agent. Now, however, he commands a force of nine agents scattered across the U.S. – agents that for the most part are former law enforcement personnel that specialized in working the cargo theft beat.

“We’ve got agents in New Jersey, Dallas, TX, Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles – all the ‘hot spots’ where most cargo thefts occur,” he explained to me recently. “You’d also be surprised how difficult cargo theft investigations are, how far stolen goods will travel, and by how much logistical knowledge our investigators need. Furthermore, we’re on call 24/7, which means a lot of nights and weekends are spent working these crimes.”

While they have neither the firepower nor the arrest capabilities the law enforcement units dedicated to combating cargo theft do – such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.’s Cargo Criminal Apprehension Team, known as the Cargo CATs for short – Cornell’s team possesses one distinct advantage; national investigate scope.


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