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LOJACK STOLEN VEHICLE TRACKING SYSTEM
In 2000, fifty-six San Ramon residents fell prey to auto thieves. The San Ramon Police Department, in conjunction with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, purchased a new tool to help combat auto theft, the Lojack Stolen Vehicle Tracking System. This system has been in operation on the east coast and southern California for the past few years. The owner of a vehicle is able to purchase a small transmitter (about the size of a deck of playing cards), and have it installed in a random area of the vehicle. If the vehicle is stolen, the police is contacted and an officer enters the vehicle information into the Stolen Vehicle System. This activates the transmitter, which sends a signal to the nearest Lojack tower. The tower then sends a signal to the nearest Police unit that is equipped with the Lojack tracking system. When the system alarm inside a police officer's patrol vehicle is triggered, indicating that a stolen vehicle is in the area, it displays a five digit number that the officer enters into the patrol car's laptop computer. The computer responds, sending a message that includes descriptive information of the stolen vehicle. Now the police officer knows exactly what he/she is looking for. The stolen vehicle transmits a signal every second, directing the officer right to the stolen vehicle. This system has quite an impressive recovery rate. During a training session, San Ramon police officers were able to locate the stolen vehicle with a 100% success rate.
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police@sanramon.ca.gov |
