LoJack® System Helps Philadelphia Police Department Recover Stolen Toyota Rav 4

  • August 11, 2016
  • recovery stories
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The custodian of a leased 2014 Toyota Rav 4 called 911 and reported that the vehicle had been stolen from the eastern section of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department officer was informed that the family leases the Toyota, arrived at their swim club and not wishing to carry the keys to the vehicle into the pool area, placed the keys in the glove compartment. Upon returning from the swim club the family discovered the Toyota had been stolen. The Philadelphia PD verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Toyota.

A short while later a Philadelphia PD Truck Enforcement officer was conducting a security sweep of an area in Philadelphia being used for a high profile national convention. The officer notified Philadelphia PD Radio that the LoJack Police Tracking Computer (PTC) in the marked police vehicle had picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Toyota. Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, the officer tracked the signal to an area in south Philadelphia where the officer observed the occupied Toyota backing out of a small street. The officer pulled the marked police vehicle in behind the stolen Toyota and began to follow same. The officer followed the Toyota and began to look for a safe location where the operator of the vehicle could be signaled to stop. The officer observed that the operator of the subject Toyota was pulling into a parking space and the officer notified Police Radio of the situation and then exited the police vehicle. The operator of the Toyota exited the vehicle and dropped a set of keys onto the highway. The officer placed the male under arrest without incident and then determined that the discarded keys fit the ignition and start the Toyota.

An investigator assigned to the Philadelphia Police Major Crimes Auto Squad was in the area covering security for the same national convention and came to the scene of the arrest. The Major Crimes Auto Squad Investigator gathered all the pertinent information and was assigned to process the arrest. The complainant was advised that the Toyota had been recovered and the perpetrator was charged with violations of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code related to theft.

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The LoJack® System was installed in the 2014 Toyota in June of 2014 at Toyota of Turnersville in Turnersville New Jersey.