BMW Stolen in Maryland, Recovered in Washington DC Minutes After Theft, Parked & Abandoned
- June 9, 2012
- recovery stories
On the morning of May 6, 2012, the owner of a 2001 BMW 740I discovered the vehicle stolen from the 14000 block of Mayfair Drive in Laurel, Maryland. The owner called the Prince Georges County Police Department to report the theft. Prince Georges officers completed a stolen vehicle report and had the BMW’s information entered into the state and federal crime computer systems. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the BMW, prompting it to begin emitting a silent homing signal.
Minutes later, detectives assigned to the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department’s auto theft unit began to pick up the BMW’s homing signal on the LoJack Police Tracking Computer (PTC) installed in their patrol vehicle. Following the directional and signal strength cues on the PTC, the detectives located the stolen vehicle, parked and unoccupied, in the 1200 block of Half Street SW in Washington DC. After a period of time had passed and no one returned for the vehicle, the detectives recovered the vehicle and returned it to the grateful owner.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the BMW at the car buyer’s request in November 2002.