LoJack® System Helps Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Recover Stolen GMC Safari
- October 7, 2015
- recovery stories
The owner of a GMC Safari contacted the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to report his vehicle was stolen. The owner had taken his GMC to a national mechanic shop where it was stolen.
The LASD Carson verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the GMC.
Only 15 minutes later, the LASD Air 8 picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen GMC 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 LASD Air 8 tracked the GMC to a residential street in Lynwood. There they found it parked on the street with two occupants. Air 8 requested the assistance of the LASD Century patrol deputies. As Air 8 was flying overhead the occupants exited the GMC and started walking away. Air 8 broadcast over their PA system for the occupants to stop. The subject that was in the driver seat ran southbound and entered the rear yard of a residence. Air 8 ordered the subject to return to the front of the residence. The subject complied as patrol deputies arrived on scene. Both subjects were detained and questioned. The driver claimed he got the GMC from his father-in-law, who is a mechanic, and lets him drive his client’s vehicles. The driver claimed he did not have contact information for his father-in-law. The deputies contacted the owner of the GMC and provided him with the detained subject’s names and the father-in-law’s name provided by the driver. The owner told the deputies he didn’t know either subject. The driver was arrested and the passenger was released after deputies determined she was not involved. The GMC was later returned to its owner.
The LoJack® System was installed in the GMC Safari in July 1999 by Cerritos Pontiac in California.