Across the United States, cargo theft is up 11% in March through May from the same period in 2014, according to the theft prevention and recovery network CargoNet.

While California, Florida, and Illinois had the biggest decreases, cargo theft increased in New Jersey and Texas and occurred in a wider distribution of states during the rolling quarter.

While Texas is always in the top three states for cargo theft in the United States, according to CargoNet, it has noticed increased volume in the past few months. CargoNet examined theft data in the state from March 1 to May 31 in 2014 and 2015 and found cargo theft is up 27%. This comes as Texas legislators push for stricter penalties for cargo theft.

Consistent with previous trends, a vast majority of thefts in the state come from just three counties: Dallas, Harris, and Tarrant, the latter two covering the Ft. Worth area.

Thefts in Tarrant County decreased 33%, but thefts in Dallas County and Harris County increased by 31% and 175%, respectively. Thefts in El Paso County, in the far west part of Texas, decreased from three in this reporting period in 2014 to zero.

Overall, thefts from truck stops went from being the lowest category in 2014 to the category with the most thefts. Similarly, roadside thefts were low in 2014 but the second-highest category in 2015.

With the Independence Day holiday just around the corner, CargoNet also said over the last three years it has noticed an increase in theft incidents reported to its command center during the time.

It has provided a snapshot of the events, including theft by state, day, commodity, location, and theft type, from July 1 through July 7.

An infographic about this is available on the CargoNet website.

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