Beeping Lights Giving Chase to Stolen Cars

The “stolen” Honda was somewhere in Chatsworth, parked by the curb on a dead-end street.

From a mile away, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Gary Stromlund picked up a signal and nosed his patrol car into the afternoon traffic. He was now on a high-tech mission. The search was under way.

On a dashboard computer terminal, a steady beeping and a pattern of flashing green lights told Stromlund which way to go, when to turn.

As he made his way through the neighborhood streets, the beeping grew sharper, the light pattern more defined.

Up ahead he saw the Honda.

It was just one more recovered vehicle for Stromlund to add to the list. In at least 100 similar searches, Stromlund and the officers of the LAPD’s evaluations-and-audits unit have never failed to find a car. Replacing old-fashioned intuition with new technology has led to a perfect score.

The unit has conducted a 1 1/2-year study of a stolen-vehicle tracking system that allows police to use high-tech electronics, computers and radio transmissions to find stolen cars. The Honda was actually one of the test cars and had a radio transmitter the size of a blackboard eraser on its back seat. Stromlund’s patrol car, with its same-sized computer terminal, was the chase car.

“We’ve never missed with it,” Stromlund said of the equipment.

The tracking system, already in place in Massachusetts, is the cornerstone of the proposed California Stolen Vehicle Recovery Network being considered by state legislators and being pushed by some as a way to lower car insurance rates.

If a pilot program is approved, state funds would be used to outfit 200 police and sheriff’s cars in Los Angeles County with the tracking equipment. Consumers would then be able to purchase the transmitters for their cars for approximately $600.

Possible ’89 Operation

By mid-1989, the homing device system could begin operating in the county, where authorities reported that 107,414 cars were stolen last year, more than anywhere else in the United States. The tracking device was tested last week in the San Fernando Valley, which has the fastest growing stolen-car rate in Los Angeles, about 40% higher than two years ago.

The tracking network would require a partnership among law enforcement agencies, the makers of the device and consumers who would pay to be part of it. It has been carefully studied by some authorities and closely watched by others. And although not all have endorsed the current proposal, most agree that the concept is good.

Emerging Crime

“Auto theft happens to be the emerging crime in California,” said Sen. Ed Davis (R--Valencia), who authored the legislation last year after Los Angeles police began testing the tracking system.

“We are suffering a tremendous economic loss from this,” said Davis, a former Los Angeles police chief. “I think when you have a system where you can electronically track stolen cars, it will deter some of the auto theft. It will also give us a great chance of recovering cars before they are stripped and torn about.”

A system that would recover stolen cars before such damage can occur could help ease the insurance rates of motorists who equip their cars with the hidden transmitters, Davis and other proponents said. The savings would come, they said, because insurance companies would pay out smaller amounts in damage claims, leading to a savings on insurance premiums.

Mandated Discount

In Massachusetts, for example, consumers with tracking transmitters are entitled by law to a 20% discount on the comprehensive portion of their auto insurance, with savings averaging about $75 to $80 a year per policy. Though the California proposal includes no such provision, proponents of the network said competition among insurance carriers could lead to discounts.

“If it is proven to be a system that works, it will save people money,” said James Snyder, executive director of Western Insurance Information Service, a consumer information group in Tustin, funded by insurance companies. “If the average cost per claim will be less severe, there will be a savings which the insurers will pass on in the form of savings to their clients.”

Approval Pending

The legislation has made its way through the state Senate this year but still must be approved by the Assembly and the governor before $1 million in state funding will be released to purchase the electronic equipment for the pilot program in Los Angeles County.

Under the proposal, the state would recoup its investment through $20 registration fees charged to vehicle owners entering the system.

Authorities last week said they think there is only one company that manufactures the kind of equipment the pilot program would need. That company, LoJack Corp. of Braintree, Mass., made the products being tested in Los Angeles and in place in Massachusetts.

Under the LoJack system, named for the antithesis of hijack, a car owner pays about $600 for a transmitter to be installed in an undisclosed part of the car.

Assigned Code Number

The transmitter is assigned a code number, and if the car is reported stolen, the code is entered into a police computer. The computer activates the transmitter so it emits a steady radio frequency pulse.

Police cars equipped with the tracking devices would pick up the transmitter’s pulse if they roamed into range of the stolen car. In the Los Angeles area, authorities are finding that range to be two to 10 miles, depending on topography.

“Once you learn to use the equipment, it becomes very easy to find these cars,” said Boston Police Sgt. John Doherty, who has recovered 47 stolen cars with the system since it was installed in Massachusetts in June, 1986. “It’s really like following a compass.”

In Massachusetts, authorities said, there are 300 police cars equipped with LoJack detectors and about 12,000 cars with transmitters. State Police Lt. Col. William Peter Agnes said 315 of those cars have been stolen since the program started, and all but 13 have been recovered.

Saves Time

Though the recovery rate in Massachusetts has been impressive, law enforcement officials said the key attribute of a tracking system is the time it saves. In Los Angeles, for instance, police already recover about nine of every 10 stolen cars. But most often they have been severely damaged or stripped by the time they are spotted, officials said. A tracking system would find the stolen car within hours, if not minutes, they said.

The average recovery in Massachusetts of a tracking system-equipped car has been 90 minutes. LoJack offers customers a refund if their cars are stolen and not found within 24 hours.

“Usually you aren’t going to get to the cars in time to prevent the stripping and damage,” Agnes said. “You take a stolen car that has been left on the street; the first day the stereo goes, the next day somebody takes the tires, the third day they take the seats and on the fourth day they set it on fire.”

Pilot Program

If the network is approved in Sacramento later this year, the Los Angeles County pilot program will show whether it is successful enough to expand statewide, authorities said.

Already those testing the system know some of its limitations. Cars reported stolen days after they have been taken, such as from airports or car dealer lots, might already be stripped by the time the transmitter is engaged. Other stolen vehicles are likely to be moved out of the network’s range, even across borders.

There also are questions as to whether California is too large to be efficiently served by a state-wide network. The network in Massachusetts covers an estimated 8,000 square miles. The pilot program in Los Angeles County alone would cover about 4,000 square miles, officials said.

For these and other reasons, not all law enforcement agencies are pursuing the establishment of the pilot program or network. The California Highway Patrol, for example, has taken no stance on the proposal.

The sheriff’s office also is approaching the concept cautiously. Lt. Fred Price said the office will continue testing before endorsing the system.

“It has got all kinds of potential,” Price said. “So far, it has proven itself to be effective. However, the verdict is still out.”