FBI Says it’s One of the Reasons Car Thefts are Down 50 Percent

GPS tracking of ordinary consumer vehicles was unheard of 20 years ago. Now it’s one of the fastest growing niche technologies.

In that same time span, the chances of you having your car stolen has dropped dramatically, even though there are significantly more vehicles on the road.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation knows that this is no coincidence. It cites GPS tracking as a contributing factor in these encouraging statistics: Today, your odds are 1 in 300 that your car will be stolen. Twenty years ago, one of every 150 vehicles was the target of thieves.

Contributors to the drop in car thefts:

1. Better police enforcement
2. Vehicle tracking systems
3. Power disabling systems

Better Police Work

In addition to nabbing individual thieves through traditional hunt-and-chase, law enforcement agencies are more focused on the bigger picture: investigating and busting major theft operations. All car thieves take their goods somewhere, and often they go to the same place again and again.

Often, police use vehicle tracking systems to monitor suspected car thieves’ patterns of behavior. After Arizona lawmakers approved a special task force to uncover theft rings, police accomplished just that. The number car thefts in the state have tumbled for the last six years.

Real-Time Vehicle Tracking

Real-time vehicle tracking systems use the power of the U.S. Department of Defense satellite system to pinpoint a vehicle. A GPS tracking receiver is placed in the vehicle. It captures and reads GPS tracking data being sent by satellites and it calculates its location based on those readings. Then, it sends the vehicle tracking data to a remote server using a wireless network.

When GPS tracking position updates are taken at regular intervals, the path of the stolen vehicle can be easily tracked over a map.

GPS tracking devices let the vehicle owner or police investigators know where the stolen vehicle is when it’s on the run, from moment to moment, within several feet of accuracy. Vehicle tracking devices also note the speed of travel. The owner of a GPS tracking equipped car can work with police to solve the crime, from the safety of a remote computer or web-enabled cell phone.

Another theft-prevention feature of real-time vehicle tracking devices is geo-fencing. The GPS tracking device owner/operator programs a virtual geographic boundary or boundaries into the vehicle tracking system. When they vehicle breaches that boundary, the GPS tracking system owner gets a text alert.

Foiling the Getaway

Almost all new cars manufactured are equipped with car ignition immobilizers. A car ignition immobilizer is an anti-theft system which is activated automatically when a vehicle is shut off. It is built in the circuitry of the vehicle. Usually, the starter, the ignition and the fuel line are disabled and any potential thief cannot start the car, including by hot-wiring, without a specially-coded key.

There are also aftermarket ignition immobilizers, which use either radio signals or GPS tracking signals. The vehicle owner can remotely trigger their moving vehicle to coast to a stop. The thief still has control of the steering and brakes, but the vehicle acts like it ran out of gas.

Some GPS tracking systems have ignition immobilization as a feature.

Triple Threat to Car Thieves

A perfect example of all three asset protection methods – police enforcement, vehicle tracking, and power disabling – is police bait cars. Several well-known vehicle insurance agencies are teaming with police in this hugely successful theft prevention program.

New cars are specially-modified with high-tech and covert gadgetry including surveillance cameras, remote triggered ignition and door locks and GPS tracking. Like a carrot on a stick, these decoy autos are “planted” by police in high crime areas of cities. When a car thief hops in and takes off with the car:

· The geo-fencing feature of the real-time vehicle tracking system alerts police that the bait car has been moved from its spot.
· The GPS tracking system shows police exactly where the car is.
· A surveillance camera hidden in the dashboard takes a video feed.
· The ignition is remotely disabled and the doors and windows lock the thief inside.
· Police apprehend the suspect.

Don’t Expect Insurance Rates to Drop

The drop in car thefts is a clear national trend, but not one, however, reflected in car insurance rates. Insurance costs remain about the same. The Insurance Information Institute explains that the decrease in car thefts is offset by an increase in the price of cars and the complexity of their components.

Insurance expert Allstate publishes regular vehicle theft statistics and recommends that the public take a layered approach to vehicle security, for example, door locks, steering wheel locks, alarm systems and vehicle tracking units.

Sources: Automobile Magazine, ABC15.com of Arizona

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Tags: Bait Cars, FBI, GPS Tracking, power disabling systems, Vehicle Tracking

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 11:12 am and is filed under GPS Tracking, GPS Vehicle Tracking, Law Enforcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.