Security & Theft Theft Recovery

[Alt5600]

Check out Trimble's TrimTrac.

Recent story...
One of these devices was installed on a Polaris ATV (valued at $8k) that was used on a construction site. The construction site manager was notified online that the ATV was moving at about midnight, and it showed-up some distance away an hour later. Before dawn it was moved into a local town and into a residential neighborhood. The construction site manager called Trimble, and they told him of the exact position of the ATV along with a high-res photo of the street where it was. The cops showed up just after dawn and recovered the ATV.

This is NOT an advertisement, but rather a story of events that I witnessed first-hand. Just thought it was interesting enough to pass along. Despite there being a subscription service, it might/could be worth it for a $40k tractor.

 

[sandman2234]

Hopefully the thieves were caught, AND the ATV recovered...
I was on a run one night, nearing the state line when I received a phone call on the trucks phone.(Nobody ever used it, due to it's extreme cost). Dispatch said a driver had just parked at the Flying J and went inside, only to remember his wallet, so he went back out to get it. The truck was gone, and Qualcomm was notified, along with the authorities in both states. They caught the guys off loading the new appliances into another truck on a back road in the other state, so they got a stay in the local jail. Always makes it nice when it works, but the smart thief will disable it before moving far.
David from jax

 

[Alt5600]

Yeah, Qualcomm makes similar devices. The thing about the TrimTrac is that it doesn't have to be connected to the vehicle battery, runs on its own AA batteries, and can be hidden out of sight.

 

[Ductape]

On a similar note, i witnessed what appeared to me to be a couple of guys stealing a ($6000.00) snowmobile @ 2 am one morning. I wrote down the license number of the truck they were loading it into and gave the info to the Police. A few days later i saw one of the officers from the traffic dept (the department within the police dept. that handled that type of case) and asked if they had recovered my neighbors snowmobile. He told me they had called the owner the truck was registered to, and he told them one of his friends must have had his truck that night..... and he didn't know which friend that might be. What did the police do about it?? NOTHING. They were just "too busy". Those theft recovery devices are great if the police aren't "too busy" to follow up on them.

 

[dixie306]

They work, I bought one from sage tracker. I have a large hunting club in GA and thieves were making a good living off of us by stealing metal tree stands, I bought a two man stand, modified the seat, hid the device in the seat and when it was stolen it tracked them to their house, the Detectives were amazed at the accuracy and detail of the map it gave me

 

[afish]

Yea the police have better things to do than catch real criminals like watch TV in the squad car, Have sex with drunk chicks they pull over behind buildings after the bars close, and dont forget the all important duty of writing tickets for dumb crap. The subdivision my in-laws live in got hit one night the thieves went from car to car right down the line stealing whatever they could the next morning when everyone was outside checking their cars out. A neighbor found one of the thieves cell phones that must have fallen out of his pocket when he was in the car. Everyone was happy thinking they would be caught. The police showed up and pretty much could care less about the phone and kind of dismissed it. When I pressed him further about it he said it was unlikely that any thing could be done about it, since the thief could claim it was lost or stolen. what the F--- are you going to at least try. I'm sorry if doing actual police work that my tax dollars pay for might get in the way of your TV watching time. Another time when I was working in Detriot some kids where walking by and busted out about 6-7 windows I opened the door and they where flipping us off and calling names. Well I chased the little SOB'S down brought them back and called the police after waiting about six hours and probably 10 calls to the police. I ended up having to take the kids home at about 10 pm to the deepest parts of the getto when I get there theres about 20 people in the street calling for there kids screaming and crying. Here comes the big white boy by myself with these three kids. I almost didnt make it out of there. Its no wonder there are so many criminals if thats how it is. If someone hear is a cop sorry I'm not saying all cops are bad I'm sure there are some good ones to. Just seems like they are more interested in writing tickets than catching criminals and before you go thinking I'm some bitter driver with 20 points wrong. My recored is clean and never had more than a couple tickets so its not like I'm bitter about getting tickets. I'm bitter about the fact when I needed a cop to do something they didnt do SH#* I have more story's but my post is log enough already.

 

[jimainiac]

Man, that sounds like a great device, technology to the rescue! I wonder how expensive it is. From reading the information, one downside is that it needs to access a cell phone tower. In some mountainous areas, like where our 2nd home is, cell coverage is spotty to non-existant.

 

[schmism]

What did the police do about it?? NOTHING. They were just "too busy". Those theft recovery devices are great if the police aren't "too busy" to follow up on them.

wrong approach. the cops arnt going to spend time figuring out if a crime was committed. but if the OWNER of the snowmobile were to report it stolen, and gave them the plate number, the cops are obligated to follow up on it, other than call the dude that owns the truck and say "did you steal a snowmobile the other night?"

 

[dixie306]

Man, that sounds like a great device, technology to the rescue! I wonder how expensive it is. From reading the information, one downside is that it needs to access a cell phone tower. In some mountainous areas, like where our ND home is, cell coverage is spotty to non-existent.

Mine was 400.00 and then 30.00 a month for access to the devices signal and mapping service, it was worth twice that to see the look on the guys face when the law knocked on his door, what I like about sagetracker your not under contract, you can start and stop service any time you chose to

 

[Ductape]

wrong approach. the cops arnt going to spend time figuring out if a crime was committed. but if the OWNER of the snowmobile were to report it stolen, and gave them the plate number, the cops are obligated to follow up on it, other than call the dude that owns the truck and say "did you steal a snowmobile the other night?"

Not sure what you mean, but the owner of the snowmobile DID report it stolen. He lived about six houses away from me. Wouldn't you at least expect the police to drive by (or better yet, stop in for a visit) the guys (with the truck) house to see if there was a snowmobile matching the description of the stolen one there? We aren't talking about a $12 plastic WalMart snow saucer here.

Snowmobile stolen
Owner reports it stolen
Witness (me) sees two guys tying it into the back of a truck @ 2am on the nearest side street.
Witness provides license plate number and description of the truck to police.

Police action: Make one phone call and then forget all about it.

You are right....... apparently the police COULDN'T figure out a crime was committed (which to me was the WRONG APPROACH).