LoJack® System Helps the Philadelphia Police Department Recover a Stolen Mercedes Benz
- April 7, 2015
- recovery stories
A car dealership in Lower Merion Pennsylvania made contact with the Lower Merion Police Department to report that a 1994 Mercedes Benz convertible was missing from their car lot. The Lower Merion PD dispatched an officer to investigate the incident. The officer quickly arrived on location, conducted interviews and searched the area for the Mercedes. When the Mercedes could not be located, the assigned officer prepared a stolen vehicle report and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Mercedes Benz.
Minutes after the LoJack activation, officers from the Philadelphia Police Department and several other jurisdictions began to pick up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Mercedes with the LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC) that are installed in patrol vehicles and aircraft. Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, the officers tracked the signal to an alley behind a row of townhouses located in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia. A detective assigned to the Philadelphia Police Major Crimes Auto Squad was monitoring the activity on the Philadelphia Police Radio and proceeded to the scene. The LoJack signal was isolated to a garage in the area of West End Drive and the police were granted consent to search the garage by the occupant of the property. The detective assigned to the Philadelphia Police Major Crimes Auto Squad opened the garage and discovered the stolen Mercedes Benz secreted inside. The occupant of the property was placed under arrest for violations of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code related to theft and the Mercedes was confiscated for safekeeping.
The LoJack® System was installed in the 1994 Mercedes Benz in March of 2002 at ASC Pre Owner Mercedes in Arlington, Virginia.