Vehicle theft

[ipso_facto]

Somewhat in response to recent threads on theft. If these social ticks can steal old GM cars, they will surely steal an A/S. Second conclusion: Avoid D.C. and big metro regions. That doesn't exactly come as news.

LINK

I want to make everyone aware of a recent trend here in the DC area that will soon probably spread to your area if it hasnt already. I am an auto theft investigator for the DC police so this is from first hand info. Thieves are using Tow cranes to steal Impalas right out of your driveway as you sleep. The coded key makes it hard to steal in the usual manner of breaking the ignition so they just tow them away. Now for the really bad part. They are then "re-vinning" the cars. They do this by using a clear title and vin plate from some POS Caprice that they legally purchased. Or they are using counterfeit titles to sell the car to some poor unsuspecting person who is then out 10K plus.

A patrol officer I work with had his Impala taken from the driveway of his home. He went out off duty and found three thugs riding around the ghetto in it 2 days later in a neighboring county. He gunfaced them until the local cops arrived. Since the vin plate was removed and the ignition had been changed the local police took it to their impound yard for safekeeping until ownership could be established.Nobody was arrested because they could not establish the car was stolen at this time.

When My friend went the next day with title and such in hand to get his car he was told that the car was stolen from the police impound lot.He found the car again a week later. Some other thug was riding around in it this time. Still no Vin plate. He was able to convince the police to release the car to him this time though. This guy had thought that he purchased the car legally and had installed 2 TVs and 20" rims.He had no receipts though so the stuff stayed in the car and he was charged with receiving stolen property.

Another close friend had his 96 taken from his driveway by tow crane while he was in bed asleep. This was 3 weeks ago and the car is still missing. He is certain it was towed because he had removed the factory cat-back a few days before but had not installed the new pipes and would certainly have heard the car start.

My advice is to block your car in with another car if you can. Set your parking brake. Turn your wheels all the way to lock. Get a motion sensitive alarm. And anything else to make it hard to tow. I also recommend Lo-Jack. It really does work.

Also if you are buying a car check it really closely. See if your local police station can check the vin number to be sure it isnt stolen and look closely at the title to be sure it isnt counterfeit or altered. And if you park in a lot with no other cars around to avoid dings it is also easier for a crane to hook your car up.

[diesel]

I etched every window including the canopy with my VIN Number. It is cheap and quick. They would have to replace every piece of glass to revin the truck making it unprofitabe to steal for resale. Check the following link.

http://www.autoetch.net/

Thugs can easily break into most new vehicles with a screw driver or equivalent within seconds. Here is a product that I installed to help keep the scum out of my truck cab.

http://www.jimmijammer.com/news.htm

[Silvertwinkie]

Diesel,

Looking at the picture of the Jimmy Jammer, couldn't a slim jim still somehow grab hold of the end of the lock tumbler? Looks to me like it covers the inner handle assembly, but still leaves the tumbler and the connecting rod still exposed.

Do you know how this is suppose to work. I think it's neat idea, just can't figure it out by the picture (bottom one).

Eric

[remcolent]

I had some problems with this a few years back
they did not stole the vehicle but about two times a week it was opend and evrything inside missing
what I did to stop it is not recomended
I took the live wire of our 220 volts and attaced it to the car
I kept in on the car for one week
car is on rubber so nothing happens until somone put a finger on it
it never happend again
I don't know if this is legal to do in the US its not overhere
but nobody complained about it
Remco

[Silvertwinkie]

I'm surprised that you didn't harm the PCM doing that.

Eric

[remcolent]

pcm? what's a pcm

if that's a computer old cars don't have computers
and even if there is a computer in the vehicle I don't
think there would be any damage as you are putting the 220 Volt to the body of the vehicle

[diesel]

Silvertwinkie,

It depends on the model of lock that you have. On mine, there is a bar that prevents a Jimmy from accessing the lock rod from above. The rod was vulnerable from below by shoving a screw driver between the sheet metal and the handle frame and rotating to the screw driver against the rod. By attacking from below, to a passerby it looks like someone was using a key to enter the car legally and it only takes second to open. If you know someone with a body shop, they can varify these facts.

Chicago was my home town and most of my antitheft techniques I learned there.

As far as using high voltage to discourage entrance, I used to hookup old color TV tubes, the ones without a voltage drain, to door knobs. I suspected someone was going through my apartment when I was going to class. Shortly thereafter I found one of the building custodians unconsious outside my door upon returning from my night job at Motorla on Polaski St. It was apparent that he had visited other apartments that evening. I removed the wire from the knob, turned on the TV, and called the Chicago Fire Department*. When they revived him, he had no memory of what happen and could not explain the burns on his hand. 30 to 35KV of DC makes an impression.

*Where and when I grew up in Chicago, no one in my neighborhood trusted the police. If there ever was a problem, we called the fire department. They came no matter what and when they left, you still had all your posessions and none of them hit on the female members of your family.

A number of us engineering students equipped our brief cases with high voltage rectifiers and a small battery. When anyone tried to steal the case, they got 10KV DC through the fingers. We never lost one of our high dollar slide rules.

I transferred out of Chicago after the riots in 1970. Working for Illinois Bell as an engineer and living on Michigan Avenue not far from City Hall, I was placed on His Honors communications squad. After that memberable experience, I transferred as far west as I could. Chicago is a beautiful city but between the politicians and criminals, is there a difference?, I know how the system really works.

[overlander63]

Originally posted by remcolent
I had some problems with this a few years back
they did not stole the vehicle but about two times a week it was opend and evrything inside missing
what I did to stop it is not recomended
I took the live wire of our 220 volts and attaced it to the car
I kept in on the car for one week
car is on rubber so nothing happens until somone put a finger on it
it never happend again
I don't know if this is legal to do in the US its not overhere
but nobody complained about it
Remco

Back in the early '80's I had a problem with someone stealing gas out of my LTD. I borrowed an electric fence module from a neighboring farmer, and hooked it up to the car, with very satisfying results.
Terry