Honda Civic Stolen and Recovered in North Andover, MA Amidst Rash of Other Honda Thefts
- March 14, 2012
- recovery stories
The owner of a 2000 Honda Civic last saw his vehicle when it was parked on Sutton Street in North Andover on the evening of February 22, 2012. When he returned to his vehicle early the following morning, he discovered the Honda missing and immediately reported the theft to the North Andover Police Department. The responding officer took a stolen vehicle report and relayed the information to the department’s computer operator, who entered the stolen Honda’s information into the state and federal crime computer databases. This routine entry automatically activated the hidden LoJack transponder in the stolen Civic, causing it to emit a silent homing signal.
A few hours later, officers from the Haverhill Police Department and members of the MASP-GATSF began picking up the silent LoJack homing signal on Police Tracking Computers installed in their police vehicles. One of the troopers received a very strong signal near the “Old Common”, in the Bradford Section of Haverhill, and by utilizing the computer’s prompts, quickly located the unoccupied and undamaged stolen vehicle, parked on South Elm Street. The troopers immediately set up surveillance on the stolen vehicle in the hopes that a suspect(s) would return. There have been a high number of Honda thefts reported in Haverhill recently and capturing a suspect could have been a valuable asset towards solving these rash of thefts and recoveries. However, after a period of time without success, the troopers had the vehicle towed from the recovery scene for safekeeping and pending notification of the victim.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Honda Civic at the owner’s request, on June 9, 2000.