Police Helicopter Unit Locates Stolen Takeuchi Loader Beside Railroad Tracks
- March 26, 2012
- recovery stories
On the morning of February 20, 2012, the manager of a local construction company contacted the Clayton Police Department to report that a 2008 Takeuchi TL-130 skid steer loader was stolen during the previous night from one of their job sites. Thankfully, the company had installed a LoJack Vehicle Recovery System in the loader when it was new.
Clayton Police completed a stolen vehicle report and had the Takeuchi’s information entered into the state and federal crime computer databases. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed within the loader. Neither the owner nor law enforcement had to do anything else to activate the LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery Network, because LoJack’s interface with law enforcement is both seamless and instantaneous.
Several days later, a Clayton County Police helicopter, equipped with a LoJack Tracking Computer, began receiving the silent LoJack signal from the stolen tractor. Following the directional and signal strength cues on the onboard computer, the pilot located the stolen equipment beside railroad tracks. He called for ground officers to assist; when they arrived, they discovered that the tractor was sitting in wet marsh land, and was unable to be towed out. However, an officer located a key to the tractor and was able to drive it out to dry land.
A detective was called to the scene to further investigate the incident. The owner was grateful that the valuable piece of equipment was returned intact, thanks to the quick police work and the LoJack Vehicle Recovery System.