Andy Ivens
The Province
A high-tech homing device helped the owner of a stolen commercial
truck recover his vehicle -- and locate three other missing
vehicles in the process.
Insulation contractor Praven Sorensen had installed a global
positioning system on his five-tonne truck just a week before
it was stolen.
"I just thought, 'I can't afford to lose that truck,'"
he said yesterday.
Overall, his truck and insulation blower are worth $50,000.
Arriving at his Port Kells offices at about 7:30 a.m. last
Monday, Sorensen was dumbfounded to discover the truck was
gone.
He made a frantic call to the company that installed the
device.
Sales rep Mike Jackson at Apex Security called back.
"He says, 'Your truck's at the corner of 84th and 206th.
Meet me there in 10 minutes,' Sorensen said.
"I just said, 'You're an angel, Mike.'"
The pair spotted the truck parked behind a large workshop
on private property next to a playing field in the Willoughby
area of Langley Township.
They called Langley RCMP, who were on the scene within 15
minutes.
Police recovered the 1998 International cube van, its insulation
blower intact.
Replacing the insulation blower alone would have cost Sorensen
about $25,000 and shut him down for about three weeks, he
estimated.
"I got lucky," he said, tipping his hat to Apex
and the Langley RCMP.
Sorensen, who has owned and operated Fransor Insulation Ltd.
for more than 25 years, admits he's no techno-wizard.
"I don't know a tonne about [GPS technology],"
he said.
"It told us exactly what time [the truck] was stolen
at -- Saturday night at 10:13. For a guy like me who's not
up on all this stuff, it's pretty amazing."
The three other vehicles recovered at the scene are:
- a 1991 Black Chevrolet Blazer, stolen from the Port Moody
area in July 2004;
- a 1997 International five-tonne truck, stolen from Surrey
in 2001;
- a travel trailer, stolen from Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows
in 2002.
Cpl. Tim Shields, spokesman for the Integrated Municipal
Provincial Auto Crime Team (IMPACT), said the battle against
car thieves is turning in the good guys' favour.
"People who have had their vehicles stolen are using
the system to track their vehicles," he said.
"Thieves, beware," he said. "People are creating
impromptu bait cars by installing GPS devices, and they work."
The cheapest GPS systems start at under $100. Marine systems
can cost $5,000 or more.
Shields also announced six of B.C.'s 10 most notorious car
thieves -- featured in a front-page spread in The Province
last week -- have been arrested, and IMPACT expects to have
the last four located by the end of the month.
Langley RCMP media liaison
Cpl. Diane Blain said investigators have a suspect in the
Willoughby case, but welcome the public's help.
Anyone who recognizes their stolen vehicle is urged to call
Langley RCMP at 604-532-3200, or, if they wish to give information
in confidence, to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
aivens@png.canwest.com
- - -
HOW GPS WORKS
When people talk about a "GPS," they usually mean
a GPS receiver.
The global positioning system (GPS) is actually a constellation
of 27 Earth-orbiting satellites -- 24 in operation and three
extras in case one fails.
The U.S. military developed and implemented the satellite
network as a military navigation system, but soon opened it
up to the public.
Each of the 1.6-tonne solar-powered satellites circles the
globe at about 19,300 kilometres above the Earth, making two
complete rotations every day.
The orbits are arranged so that at any time, anywhere on
Earth, there are at least four satellites "visible"
in the sky.
A receiver locates four or more of these satellites, figures
out the distance to each and uses this information to deduce
its own location.
It is based on a mathematical principle called trilateration.
- from howstuffworks.com |
The Vancouver Province - Gadget 'finds' stolen vehicle
