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Authorities get technology to help track stolen cars: LoJack system in police, patrol vehicles
(Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jun. 23--Finding stolen cars around Ohio and in Columbus could become easier as some lawenforcement agencies start equipping patrol cars with vehicle-tracking technology.
Officers from the State Highway Patrol, the Columbus Division of Police and other lawenforcement agencies demonstrated the new tracking system, provided free by LoJack Corp., at a news conference this week.
The technology, installed in 14 Columbus police vehicles, 14 Highway Patrol cars and three Columbus police helicopters, uses radio signals and tracking computers to locate stolen vehicles that are equipped with the LoJack car-security system. Local law-enforcement agencies began using the system in April.
The patrol eventually plans to install the system in 30 of its 1,100 cruisers and two of its 12 aircraft.
Last year, about 8,500 motorvehicle thefts were reported in Columbus, compared with about 7,800 in 2004, according to FBI statistics.
If a car that is stolen has the LoJack system, which can be purchased for $695, and the police car has the system to detect it, the car will send out radio-frequency signals to alert police of its whereabouts.
Transmitters in the car are activated when a theft is reported and the car's vehicle-identification number is entered into a computer.
The system, however, isn't based on a global-positioning system, so it will give police only a general direction for finding a stolen vehicle.
Marc Wigler, president of Crown Chrysler Jeep & Kia, one of more than 13 dealers that LoJack communications director Paul McMahon said offer the system, said customers more often opt for more-established vehicle-location systems, such as OnStar, which can provide the exact location of a vehicle by using global positioning.
McMahon estimated that only a "handful" of cars in Columbus are equipped with the system, and six car dealers interviewed for this story said they have not made a single LoJack sale. But those with LoJack expect sales to increase as word gets out that law-enforcement agencies have the tracking system.
Col. Paul McClellan of the State Highway Patrol said that if no one uses the LoJack technology, it will be removed from patrol vehicles.
"All we're trying to do is use this capability," he said. "If no one chooses to use it and it's a waste of time, it's out of our cars."
Mitch Wilson, a spokesman for the Ohio Insurance Institute, said a LoJack system might decrease a person's yearly premium by 2 percent to 5 percent, though LoJack's Web site boasts reductions of more than 30 percent.
mzapotosky@dispatch.com
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