OGDEN — Two Utah Highway Patrol troopers have found six stolen vehicles in one month, including a Hummer in Ogden on Thursday.
UHP troopers Sean Cannon and Alex Williams have installed LoJack tracking devices in their police vehicles. When the device pings, it indicates that a stolen car, with a LoJack tracking device installed, is in the area.
Troopers located a 2005 H2 Hummer on Thursday, less than 39 minutes after receiving the first ping from a cellphone tower, Cannon said.
Ogden police received a report that the vehicle had been stolen around 6 a.m. Thursday, said UHP Trooper Sean Cannon. The identification number on the Hummer had been entered into the National Crime Information Center.
The Hummer had a LoJack transmitter installed, which automatically turned on when the vehicle’s identification number was entered into the database.
It took several hours for police to locate it, simply because it needed a responder to find it.
Cannon and UHP Trooper Alex Williams were performing their regular routes when the responder in Cannon’s car pinged.
“It basically says, ‘I’m stolen. Come look for me,’ ” Cannon said.
It took Cannon and Williams less than 39 minutes to find the Hummer, which was parked at Fowler Avenue and 14th Street.
The tracking device is not a GPS and is installed inside the vehicle where thieves cannot see it or remove it.
The responders were put into law enforcement vehicles by the company, which is based in Massachusetts, for free. UHP has been using it for two years.
Cannon said the Hummer is the sixth vehicle in the past 30 days he and Williams have found using the system. The Hummer is also the first vehicle reported stolen and found in Weber County that had a LoJack in it.
Al Bechyne, law enforcement liaison with LoJack, said the system can track cars, trucks, construction equipment, office equipment and motorcycles.
“We install it and it sleeps until a report is made to police and the identification number is entered into NCIC,” Bechyne said.
Bechnye, who is a retired Las Vegas police officer, said he used the system to find stolen vehicles in the Nevada area.
He said UHP, as well as a number of Salt Lake and Utah County law enforcement agencies, have currently signed up for the responders. No police agency in Weber or Davis counties has signed up for the responders.
But the Hummer, is “the first activation in the north and the first recovery in the north we’ve had,” Bechyne said.
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