Will this cut down on crime?
A lot of people are surprised to learn the Denver metro area has one of the highest car theft rates in the entire country. While police have caught and prosecutors have helped put away members of multiple theft rings in the state, thefts haven’t been falling. Denver Police Department hopes a new GPS tracking program called DenverTrack will help turn the tide.
Learn the new reason one news station says thieves are stealing cars for here.
Anyone can sign up for the program which authorizes law enforcement to tap into any factory or aftermarket GPS tracking system if a vehicle is reported as stolen. Police say they will confirm consent with the car owner before flipping the switch and tracking movements in real time.
The whole goal of DenverTrack is to quickly hunt down stolen vehicles and return them to owners. At the same time, cops will be able to arrest the suspects, who hopefully aren’t back out on the street before the paperwork is filled out.
It seems like an interesting program we definitely want to keep an eye on. While some people might not trust the police won’t start tracking their movements when their car hasn’t been reported as stolen, we suspect a good number of people in the Denver area will want to sign up for this program.
Often, when thieves steal a vehicle they’ll park it somewhere public for a few days to see if it’s being tracked. The tactic is supposed to prevent the police from showing up at a chop shop or other base of operations, getting the whole theft ring busted in the process. That would mean a lot of these stolen cars would be returned quickly.
Anyone who signs up for DenverTrack will receive a window sticker informing a potential thief the car owner is participating in the program. Will it slow down the car theft trend? We’ll see.
Image via Denver Police Department
