Use of social media is by no means limited to checking out someone’s food photos or enduring seemingly never-ending political rants.

Take the case of Adam Bonner, a superintendent with Portland’s Hoffman Construction. Last summer, he used a teenager’s social media posts to investigate and put a stop to the boy’s exploits climbing a construction crane Hoffman was using on a Seattle job site.

“He contacted Seattle Police, but he also began his own investigation using social media,” explained Karen Blythe, executive director of the of the Pacific Northwest. “He quickly identified a 17-year-old suspect, he did some more detective work, learned the name of the young man and his high school and he engaged the suspect in an online chat.”

From there, Bonner convinced the boy to put an end to his adventures, met with his father and had the teen issue a contrite apology – on social media. That allowed all involved to walk away without involving the criminal justice system.

For that effort, Bonner was recognized Thursday by the CICP and given the group’s annual Padlock award, which honors the industry figure who goes the extra mile to prevent theft and vandalism at local job sites.

“Several drafts of that social media post were submitted until one met Adam’s approval,” Blythe told the audience of construction industry executives and law enforcement officials. “And the crane climbing, at least since last fall, has stopped. Adam has good investigative skills along with the skill of persuasion that brought this very serious issue to an end.”

Bonner’s award was given out at the group’s 22nd annual awards luncheon held this year at the Multnomah Athletic Club in downtown Portland. Newly appointed Portland Police Bureau Chief Danielle Outlaw served as keynote speaker.

The CICP was founded in 1996, and to date has reported more than $18.3 million in losses from members’ job sites. Crucially, the group and its partners in law enforcement have been able to recover more than $6.5 million of that amount during the same time period.

Also on Thursday, the group handed out its Law Enforcement Partner Award to three separate parties.

The first was given to Vancouver Police Department crime analyst Jaycee Elliot, who last year created a flier with theft prevention advice for contractors following a series of thefts of utility trailers from job sites.

Another went to Milwaukie Sgt. Detective Tom Broomfield, Detective Tony Cereghino and Detective Larry Giddings for their creation of an informative flier detailing a stolen metal ramp. The flier was given to recycling centers that partner with the CICP, resulting in the eventual recovery of the $17,000 ramp.

The final Law Enforcement Partner award was given to Portland Police Bureau officers James Fleming and David Staab, who in August 2017 used information from CICP partner Titan Construction Services of Oregon City to recover a stolen flatbed truck filled with tools and hauling a water trailer. The two officers needed just six hours to find and recover the stolen truck, which was valued at more than $20,000.

“It’s been a successful year,” CICP Board Chairman Travis Baker told the audience. “There’s a lot of activity happening, and we’re always looking to provide contractors with new ways of profit protection through crime prevention.”

The last award of the day, the Law Enforcement Award, went to a group of Oregon State Police troopers and investigators and Bureau of Land Management federal special agent Chip Mican.

In that case, Oregon State Police Detective Brian Assmus was advised in February 2017 by a contractor of the theft of a 2010 Kubota excavator from a job site near milepost 217 on Interstate 5 between Albany and Eugene. The excavator was recovered later that same day near Salem, and two arrests resulted from the case.

Just weeks later, the CICP was asked to prepare an alert regarding a stolen Oregon Department of Transportation backhoe. This also resulted in OSP troopers recovering the stolen vehicle.

Assmus was not finished, however. On April 14, he reported a suspicious excavator to CICP, and after a brief investigation found the suspect down the road taking the tires off of an ODOT light stand so he could replace the excavator’s tires.

“Of course they were arrested,” Blythe said to applause.

Other OSP troopers involved in these cases included trooper Tom Willis, senior trooper Mark Moore, trooper Kevin Zwijacz and senior trooper Curtis Weaver.

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