NYPD Officers Track Stolen Ford Escort into Queens; Surveillance Yields One Arrest
- March 10, 2012
- recovery stories
In the early morning hours of February 19, 2012, the owner of a 1998 Ford Escort parked and locked his vehicle on the street where he lives in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, confines of the 68pct. When he returned for it a short time later, he found it missing, and immediately called the NYPD to report the theft.
When the Police arrived, they took a written report, and had this information entered into the state and federal crime computer databases. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed inside the Ford Escort. Because LoJack is directly networked with the police, no further action or communication between owner and police was required to begin the tracking of the vehicle.
A short while later, the Police of the Queens North Auto Larceny Unit began to pick up the silent LoJack signal emitting from the stolen Escort on their Police Tracking Computers. Following the computer’s directional and signal strength cues, they followed the vehicle through the Maspeth section of Queens, confines of the 104th precinct. There, they located the vehicle, parked on a residential street.
The officers staked the vehicle out for a several hours; thankfully, their diligence and patience paid off. A male entered the vehicle, and as soon as he did, the officers blocked him in — thereby avoiding a potentially dangerous chase. They immediately took the male into custody. The vehicle was recovered with no damage. The owner was contacted and was elated to learn that his vehicle was recovered so quickly, especially with such no damage.