Multiple Colorado Police Units Track and Locate Stolen RAV4 — Surveillance Leads to Arrest of 2 Suspects
- March 29, 2012
- recovery stories
When the owners of this Toyota RAV4 discovered that their vehicle had been stolen on the afternoon of January 25, 2012, they quickly reported the theft to the Boulder Police Department. It was the police department’s routine entry of the vehicle information into the nationwide law enforcement stolen vehicle computer system that automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle. Neither the owners nor law enforcement agents had to do anything else to activate the LoJack network, as LoJack’s interface with the police is both instantaneous and seamless.
A short time later, officers with the Arvada and Denver Police Departments and troopers with the Colorado State Patrol received the silent homing signals from the stolen RAV4 with the LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC) installed in their patrol cars. Following the directional and signal strength cues from the PTC, the officers tracked the stolen RAV4 to the area of 9200 Oberon Road. There, officers of the Arvada Police Department Impact Team took over and conducted a covert surveillance of the abandoned stolen vehicle, in hopes that the suspects would return to the car. Their patience and good tactics were rewarded when two suspects exited a nearby apartment and entered the car. Both suspects were arrested.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in this Toyota RAV4 at the owner’s request in Connecticut 5 ½ years ago.