Michigan State Police Stop Thief Driving Stolen Dodge Caliber, Arrest Suspect & Recover Vehicle
- June 7, 2012
- recovery stories
The owner of a 2010 Dodge Caliber had parked his vehicle in his driveway in Detroit and left the keys inside it while he went into his residence for a few minutes. During that brief time, an unknown suspect entered the Dodge and was observed speeding away. The owner quickly filed a theft report with the Detroit Police Department.
Detroit Police verified the theft, completed a stolen vehicle report and had the Dodge’s information entered into the Michigan LEIN and federal NCIC stolen vehicle databases. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the stolen Dodge. Neither the owner nor law enforcement agents had to do anything else to activate the LoJack Vehicle Recovery Network, because LoJack’s interface with the police is both seamless and instantaneous.
A short while later, several law enforcement agencies in the Detroit area received the Dodge’s silent LoJack signal on the Police Tracking Computers installed in their police vehicles. Following the directional cues on the computers, troopers from the Michigan State Police and members of the ACTION Auto Theft Task Force tracked and located the stolen Dodge in a residential area of Detroit.
Officers established surveillance on the stolen Dodge and after some time, the suspect returned and attempted to drive away in the vehicle. Police conducted a felony stop on the Dodge and arrested the driver. Because of the quick recovery time, the stolen Dodge sustained no damage and the suspects were unable to strip the vehicle or use it to commit other crimes. The Dodge was impounded and later released to the owner.
The owner was happy he had the vehicle equipped with LoJack when he purchased it from Enterprise Car Sales-Farmington Hills in January 2012. The ACTION Auto Theft Task Force is handling the follow-up investigation.