An exclusive preoccupation with crime displacement is therefore an unhealthy condition. It is symptomatic of security practitioners, government agencies or academician who conceptualizes his/her work as one of reducing the quantity of cargo crime in the short-term. This is not to say that cargo crime cannot be reduced. It can be the focus to include both its short and long-term impact. In this respect; any research on crime displacement and diffusion of benefits needs to be combined with Barr and Pease (1992) term as crime placement. The trend of cargo crime whether they increase or decrease; can be redistributed to other crimes which is still impactful and harmful to society. Cargo crime placement can cause difficult issues of social justice and the supply chain industries. The excessive concentration of cargo crime in pockets of deprivation and amongst the most vulnerable members of society arguably exacerbates the social harm resulting from cargo crime whether it is material or monetary loss, personnel injury, or emotional impact. Crime displacement theory and other criminology theory have been addressed in depth in the literature review. For the practical cargo crime prevention initiatives within the supply chain, the idea of total crime seems to be interesting and appropriate but in the real world, security professional needs to fully understand and be very familiar on the modus operandi of the cargo crime and also what motivates the criminal to commit the crime. This will leads to introduction of appropriate crime prevention strategies and preventive measures. Where there is movement of cargo from one location to another, there is always an opportunity of having the cargo being stolen or hijacked during transportation. The theft or crime threat arises from different theft opportunities that will always be present within the supply chain. If this threat within the supply chain is not taken seriously; the risk will increase and in long-term the cost for the supply chain will increase due to cargo losses. These crime opportunities can be reduced by implementing crime prevention methodology. Appropriate counter measures can change the criminals’ decision process and that can be described as when the criminals continues to find the weakest point within his capability and ability to commit cargo crime. The common-sense about crime displacement theory that exists in the trucking within the supply chain needs to be modified. Due to total and partial displacement, there are different issues and the usage of common sense is needed to understand the idea of total crime displacement. For the practical crime prevention strategies within the supply chain, the total displacement idea seems to be ideal, but in reality, it is more important for the supply chain professionals, security professionals and government agencies to work together to take the holistic approach in managing crime within the supply chain in Malaysia.
The holistic approach is useful when security threat arises from the environment and a greater understanding of the cause is needed to reduce the total risk that arises within the supply chain. The risk of cargo threats differs between the supply chain network configurations according to the elements of crime. In Malaysia the cargoes are shipped in different configurations and method depending on the requirements of customers and therefore the routine activities perspective is a valid theory on the threat which will leads to potential desirable target or object for the criminals.. In doing so, they adjust their activities to the movement of their victim (transportation facilities and mode of transport). The crime opportunity depends on the cargo criminal’s ability to use the routines of the cargo movement in combination with the lack of security control measures at certain operation or location. Cargo, a multibillion dollar industry, will continue to threaten the supply chain security in Malaysia and around the world. It can occur during cargoes being stored or in transit whether by train, truck, air or ocean. Regardless of how a company chooses to store or ship their cargoes, it is still vulnerable to both the organized crime and opportunistic criminals. Therefore, protecting cargoes, both static and on the move should be a top priority for companies.
The outcomes of this research coincide with the research objectives by focusing on the independent secondary data on criminal attacks against trucking, information gathered from interview sessions, intelligence gathered and the analysis of crime displacement theory and supply chain risk management. This research also does not attempt to break the problem down into its simplest parts or uses a hard system approach to provide a wide, multi-level analysis. The risk of the threats may differ between the supply chain network configurations and the element of crime. Different types of cargoes are shipped in different configurations depending on the demands of their respective supply chain requirements and the transport movement are in general very predictable. The practical consequence of this is that crime displacement theory perspective is a valid theory for the threat which leads to the potential criminal. In their pursuit of the right (desirable) object they will adjust activities to the movement (routine) of the victim (transport elements like facilities and transportation modes). The theft opportunities are very dependent on the cargo criminal’s capability to utilize their criminal knowledge, cargo routines movement, in combination with the lack of security control measures at certain operations or locations. High value cargoes demands are driven by the supply and demand forces of the gray market. These driving forces, along with such opportunities as the unique combination of object, place, time, method, and weak security control measures will contribute to the increasing cases of cargo crime within the supply chain in Malaysia. The statistics in this research do not provide a full image of the problem with serious threat against supply chain in Malaysia but by combining several independent statistical sources with a theoretical framework of reference it has establish a good understanding on the patterns and trends of cargo crime in Malaysia. Certain transportation owners or logistics company may think that it is cheaper to prevent the problem than to have it around. This may be one reason why cargo crime continues to exist as a major problem today and it will continue to be a major supply chain security risk and threat in Malaysia.
As criminology becomes more refined in criminological perspective, it becomes more inclined to put our knowledge into action. It is important for Police, government agencies and security professional to use specific crime analyses or tools, and then develop tailored responses to reduce crime. Often these plans of action include the use of some type of crime prevention methodology to influence existing crime patterns. Crime displacements have been the issues and great concern for a long time in crime prevention and justify to as a very important factors in criminology. Indeed, the argument that any effort to solve crime problems in one place will simply divert criminal to other locations; is occasionally used by some criminologist as an argument against the implementation of place or crime type orientation in solving crime. Whenever preventive efforts are focused upon specific geographic locations, crime displacement is often a common predicted result. The problem-solving initiatives and crime hot spot or crime prone area analyses that are being put into practice in many cities often resulted many crime proactive prevention or interventions which are designed to change the nature of crime of specific areas (Buerger, 1992). If crime displacement is the outcome of these efforts then the understanding of costs and benefits that may arises from its occurrence is vital to determine the utility of areas oriented in crime prevention.
The cargo criminals are mostly internationally or nationally linked and they are able to bribe insiders to provide them with valuable information related to the cargo movement and types of cargo which are profitable to them. New challenges emerge for the protection and security of the cargo transportation infrastructure which includes accelerating and increase rate of changes in the transportation sector. The rises of sophisticated theft of cargo within the supply chain make it more challenging for the industry to protect the cargo. The new dimensions of secured global transportation are causing major changes in the human resources, security systems and equipments. E-commerce is accelerating changes by reducing order time and shortening of deliveries time. Speed, volume and just-in-time delivery requirements by the customers drive the new strategy of supply chain security. The cargo transportation industry has focussed on information technology to improve services and systems. Security practitioners and security managers therefore must acquire new skills to cope with the rapid changes within the industry. Security professionals need to understand how to adapt to the changes and optimizing the security department’s role in supply chain management and contributing to corporate financial benefits. A new type of criminal is emerging within the supply chain within the cyber criminal who uses the internet and high technology to duplicate documents to near perfect official documents. Despite these challenges, new security programs are gaining slow introduction. Access control seems a logical option, yet implementation can be challenging as the general nature of cargo is to be mobile. It is extremely difficult to protect and secure a moving target. While improving and streamlining systems, security professional must think smarter and integrate existing proven technologies into the supply chain security program.
Despite increased concern about air, truck, rail, maritime and intermodal security, transportation companies in Malaysia are not applying new program and resources in an effective, coordinated way to secure their operation and this has to change. To be successful in protecting the cargo, supply chain security must address the fact that professional criminals are increasing transportation activities and are especially aggressive in cultivating black markets for stolen cargos in this region experiencing economic, social and political difficulties. Additionally, law enforcement agencies are hard-pressed to disrupt cargo theft rings and syndicates are becoming more adept at tracking and seizing cargo on the road and infiltrating logistics and supply chain management systems. Since crime will most probably be displaced in difference situation; therefore trucking or transportation companies in Malaysia need to enhance their security control measures to avoid or being the victim of cargo crime in Malaysia.
This research topic or area needs more attention from both academia’s’ as well as from the business organization itself. The authorities (Police) in Malaysia need to increase their attention on cargo crime due to the existence of different supply chain security threats. In order to have better understanding and prevention of cargo crime in Malaysia, cargo criminals must be included in the analysis to determine whether criminals will displace to other location or committing other types of crime when Police implements deterrent measures and trucking companies enhanced their security control measures. Malaysia authority needs to be involved because civilian or security practitioners do not have access to the criminals for them to participate in the research. If it is achievable then this may lead to new criminology theory and knowledge about cargo crime behaviour and would continue to collaborate with theories from other scientific fields. The research has concluded that crime displacement theory is applicable and relevant to cargo crime within the supply chain in Malaysia.