Galveston Officers Quickly Track and Recover Dodge Pickup Stolen in Houston
- May 8, 2012
- recovery stories
When the owners of a 2004 Dodge pickup truck discovered the vehicle missing on April 4, 2012, they immediately filed a theft report with the Houston Police Department.
Houston officers prepared a stolen vehicle report and had the Dodge’s information entered into the state and federal crime computer systems. This routine action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle. Neither the owners nor law enforcement had to do anything else to cause the activation of the LoJack Vehicle Recovery Network, because LoJack’s interface with the police is both seamless and instantaneous.
Less than an hour later, officers from the Galveston County Auto Crimes Task Force received the silent homing signals from the stolen Dodge with the LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC) installed in their patrol cars. The officers queried the LoJack “Reply Code” appearing on the PTC display screens with the police stolen vehicle computer system, and received a full description of the stolen Dodge pickup. Following the directional and signal strength cues on the PTC, the officers quickly located the pickup, parked in an area of Galveston Island known for drug activity. The officers conducted surveillance on the pickup, but when there was no activity or sign of suspects, the officers towed the pickup to the police impound for safekeeping until it could be released to the owner. The investigation remains ongoing.