Car Thefts on Rise but New Technologies Available to Fight Crime

There are other, more intrusive anti-theft systems, such as crook locks, the long metal bar with hooks at each end to lock the

"Bait" cars are vehicles that are purposely left for a thief to steal, in order to bust regular criminals in the act. (Photo: General Motors of Canada)

steering wheel in place, armoured collars, which do much the same thing although with a much more robust metal shield, and, for two-wheeled riders, the good old chain and lock.

And if someone is steeling your gas, which is becoming a major problem now that fuel costs are out of control, try purchasing a high-quality locking gas cap. While the thief can still use a crowbar to pry the cap off, he probably won't be carrying one and therefore will look elsewhere to siphon some unsuspecting owner's tank.

But back to vehicle theft, one of the best deterrents is a relatively new technology that is starting to be widely used by industry professionals, such as the police system for fleet cars as well as "bait" cars, vehicles purposely left for a thief to steal, in order to bust regular criminals in the act.

Tracking systems, which use global positioning technology, allow those same police officers to track your car and recover it,

Tracking systems use global positioning technology, allowing the police to track your car and recover it. (Photo: General Motors of Canada)

more often than not, and in so doing often put the perps behind bars - well, at least until our legal system lets them back out to commit the crime again. Without such a device, recovery statistics are very low by the way. The same U.S. survey quoted earlier shows a 14.1 percent chance of every seeing your car, or any of the belongings that were inside it, again.

There is a variety of tracking systems available, such as Boomerang and Lojack, but a newer system developed by NowAuto, Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary Navicom, targets those who want to be able to track their vehicle with OnStar-like precision, plus a lot more functionality than just that.