Air, Ground Units Using LoJack Enables Recovery of Stolen Caterpillar Backhoe and 2nd Backhoe
- July 17, 2012
- recovery stories
On June 12, 2012 the owner of a 2001 Caterpillar 420D backhoe contacted the Collingswood Police Department to report that the construction equipment was stolen from a job site out of Collingswood. The backhoe was last seen on Friday June 8, 2012 at the end of the work day.
Collingswood officers verified the theft and entered the equipment’s information into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the backhoe.
The following week, officers from the Philadelphia Police Aviation Unit picked up the silent LoJack homing signals from the stolen backhoe on the LoJack Police Tracking Computers installed in their helicopter. Following the directional and audible cues from the LoJack computers, the officers tracked the vehicle to the area of Church Street in Evesham, New Jersey. The flight officers then notified ground units from the Evesham Police Department, who located the backhoe in a wooded area behind an abandoned building along. At the scene, the officers also recovered a second backhoe, which they suspect was also stolen.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the 2001 Caterpillar 420D backhoe on March 15, 2002 in Elliott & Frantz, Inc, King of Prussia, PA.