Toyota Camry Stolen with Keys in Ignition and Engine Running in Philadelphia, Recovered in Allentown
- June 9, 2012
- recovery stories
On the night of Tuesday, May 8, 2012, the owner a 1995 Toyota Camry left her residence and went to a local store. While she was in the store, she left the vehicle’s key in the ignition and the engine running. When the owner returned to the vehicle a short while later, she discovered that her vehicle had been stolen.
The Toyota’s owner quickly called 911 and the Philadelphia Police Radio dispatched an officer to investigate the incident. The officer arrived on location, interviewed the complainant and surveyed the area for the subject vehicle. When the vehicle could not be located, the officer prepared a stolen vehicle report and arranged to the information entered into the Philadelphia and federal crime computer databases. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Camry, thereby prompting the transponder to begin emitting a silent homing signal.
Within minutes, Allentown and Salisbury Township Police Officers began to pick up the Camry’s silent LoJack signal on the LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC) installed in their patrol vehicles. Following the directional and signal strength cues from the PTC, the officers tracked the Camry to the city of Allentown, where they observed the parked vehicle. After cautiously approaching the vehicle, the officers determined that it was unoccupied. The Camry was recovered and held for safekeeping until the owner could be notified.