Philadelphia Air and Ground Unit Officers Track Stolen Honda Motorcycle to Garage — Suspect Arrested
- February 23, 2012
- recovery stories
On Friday, February 10, 2012, the owner of a 2008 Honda VT750 motorcycle discovered that the motorcycle had been stolen from a facility where it had been secured. The owner called 911 and Philadelphia Police Radio dispatched a 15th District officer to investigate the incident.
The officer arrived on location, interviewed the victim and surveyed the area for the stolen Honda. When the motorcycle could not be located, the officer prepared a stolen vehicle report and arranged to have the motorcycle’s VIN entered into the state and federal crime databases. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Honda and initiated the tracking of the motorcycle.
A few minutes later, the Philadelphia Police Aviation Division Officers were on patrol over Philadelphia in an airship equipped with a LoJack Tracking Computer when the computer began to receive the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Honda motorcycle. Following the computer’s cues, the officers tracked the motorcycle to the area of 4800 Miller Street. The highly-trained aviation officers continued to lower the altitude of the helicopter and isolated the signal to one particular area which contained a closed garage.
A Philadelphia Police Highway Patrol Officer was monitoring the radio transmissions between the Police Helicopter and Philadelphia Police Radio. The Highway Patrol Officer alerted the air unit that he would provide ground assistance, and arrived at the garage in the 4800 block of Miller Street. During the subsequent investigation, the owner of the garage arrived on location and voluntarily consented to open the garage. Inside, the officers observed a motorcycle matching the description of the stolen Honda; a quick check of the motorcycle’s vehicle identification number confirmed the suspicion. The garage owner was placed under arrest and transported to Philadelphia Police Northeast Detective Division, where he was charged with numerous violations related to theft. The recovered motorcycle was returned to the owner.