LoJack® System Helps Philadelphia Police Department Recover a Stolen Nissan Maxima
- July 26, 2016
- recovery stories
The owner of a 2002 Nissan Maxima called 911 and reported that he had been robbed in the eastern section of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department Radio dispatched officers to the complainant’s location. The complainant related that he was exiting a store and walking to his Nissan when two male subjects approached and demanded that he empty his pockets. The complainant noticed that the male with a rose and teardrops tattooed on his face had a long knife in his hand. The complainant related that the male informed him that if he screamed he would be killed. The complainant surrendered his phone, car keys and other belongings. The males entered the Nissan and drove off with same.
Officers took the complainant to the detective division and a police detective was assigned to investigate the incident. After formally interviewing the complainant, the detective entered the stolen vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Nissan.
A short while later members of the elite Philadelphia Police Aviation Unit were on patrol over the City of Philadelphia in a police airship. The aviation officers notified PD Radio that they had picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Nissan with the LoJack Police Tracking Computer assigned to the airship. Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, the aviation officers tracked the signal to the northwest section of Philadelphia. The aviation officers continued to reduce the altitude of the airship until they were able to identify the parked and unoccupied Nissan. The aviation officers notified PD Radio of the situation and marked police ground units were dispatched to the scene while the police airship remained on location to observe the Nissan. Marked police vehicles arrived on location and placed the Nissan under surveillance. When the surveillance had negative results, the Nissan was confiscated for investigation and taken to the Philadelphia PD Tow Squad HQ to be processed for physical evidence.
This incident remains under investigation by the Philadelphia PD Detective Division.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Nissan Maxima in July 2002 at Koeppel Nissan in Jackson Heights, New York.