Making vehicle recovery easier using GPS tracking
How much is your car worth to you and how secure do you feel when you leave it in a parking lot?
According to FBI Uniform Crime Reports, a motor vehicle is stolen in the
GPS tracking is an excellent tool to recover stolen vehicles. But don’t take my word for it-listen to someone who has to deal with stolen vehicle reports every day.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press interviewed Chattanooga Detective Jeff Rearden after his department recovered over $1 million in stolen vehicles. (Read full article here).
“The satellite tracking ability of vehicles makes it so much easier for us to find the vehicle, because it gives us a target to shoot for,” Detective Rearden said, explaining that GPS units immediately can get him within 10 feet of a stolen car. Otherwise, he said, “it’s like hunting for a needle in a haystack.
“While satellite technology is becoming standard on many cars, police might see only one in 50 vehicles equipped with such devices, he said.
“We’d like for it to be a lot more common than it is,” the detective said. “I think it ought to be standard on any piece of equipment.”
Tags: anti-theft device, GPS tracking, GPS tracking unit, GPS unit, LoJack, Vehicle Theft
March 20th, 2008 at 5:35 am
For 22 years, vehicles have been recovered by the police using LoJack. Rather than a GPS system, LoJack operates on a radio frequency signal, which enables increased penetration in buildings, underground parking garages, shipping containers, etc.
To see its effectiveness, the following two links are recent recovery stories detailed in the press:
Stand Your Ground: LoJack
LoJack’s radio frequency technology is put to the test in the following article - http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7998018
Police Say Tracking Device Helped Them Uncover Crime Ring
Police find an illegal motorcycle chop shop in the garage of a Charlotte home - http://www.wsoctv.com/news/15646059/detail.html
March 20th, 2008 at 7:51 am
While I agree that LoJack is a good system for vehicle recovery if you are local, what happens when you go into an area where LoJack doesn’t have coverage? For example, I could steal a car and drive it to Arkansas or Mississippi since LoJack is not available there.
I personally believe GPS is a better technology simply because it’s available in 100% of the US. Sure, there are going to be times when a car is in a garage or other area where GPS isn’t present, but at least the opportunity exists where they can get coverage.
Am I wrong on this or not?
March 20th, 2008 at 9:11 am
The problem with LoJack is that you have to call someone to activate it then wait for the police to have the time to find it.
With GPS tracking you can set a geofence around the vehicle and be notified within seconds if it is moved from that area. Then, all you have to do is find it using your computer or you can use your telephone to call and get the location.
During this time you can notify the police that your car has been stolen and you can direct them to where it is, thus making recovery faster and more efficient.
March 22nd, 2008 at 7:43 pm
LoJack was great 20 years ago. It’s like an eight track tape, it can still play music, but why not move on to later technology.
With the last research I did, I found that only about 5% of police departments have LoJack detectors. Even the ones that do will tell you they get tired of trying to track down that hot / cold signal that often turns out to be a false alarm. Many times, the police are not afforded the opportunity to go out looking for stolen vehicles (property crimes), and instead find themselves giving priority crimes, like violent crimes against people, the majority of their time.
Why not use a tracking device that offers the end user the ability to immediately go online and immediately direct the police to the location of the stolen vehicle instead of waiting potentially hours for a 3rd party to identify where your vehicle is?