Heavy equipment thefts are decreasing, says a new study by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), showing a 7 percent decline from 11,705 thefts in 2011 to less than 11,000 thefts in 2012.

There has been an overall 19 percent reduction in heavy equipment thefts since 2008. However, only 20 percent of heavy equipment stolen in 2012—at a cost of about $300 million—was ever recovered.

The NICB ranked Texas as the number one state for heavy equipment thefts in 2012, logging 1,401 crimes, mostly in Houston. North Carolina was the second state with 1,037 thefts, followed by Florida (890) and California (686). These four states accounted for 37 percent of the total number of robberies in 2012, although every state has a statistic for equipment crime.

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