BREA : Police Given OK to Use Anti-Theft System

The city will become the first in Orange County to offer LoJack, an electronic tracking system for vehicles that boasts a 95% recovery rate.

Yorba Linda, which contracts with the Brea Police Department for services, will also be able to use the anti-theft system when it is installed in about two months, officials said.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize use of the tracking system, which is supplied by LoJack of Dedham, Mass. Residents who want to have the system installed in their cars will have to pay about $600 each.

“Having the mall here, we’re a real target” for car thieves, Councilwoman Lynn Daucher said. “This is very proactive to be the first in Orange County.”

LoJack uses equipment provided to police to locate stolen vehicles by listening to a silent electronic signal emitted by a device installed in the car. The signal can be picked up within a 5- to 25-mile radius.

The device is installed by LoJack technicians in any one of several dozen hard-to-locate spots within the car. LoJack has been used in Los Angeles County since 1990 and won approval from law enforcement agencies in Orange County earlier this year.

Teletrac, a similar but less widely used system, is being used in some Orange County cities.

The secret to LoJack’s success, police say, is that nobody but company technicians know what the transmitter looks like. The company does not allow its product to be photographed. Thieves, therefore, don’t know where to find the device or what to look for, police said.