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Here's a story I saved about good old-fashioned GPS justice!

Oft-Burglarized Store Hits Back With GPS
Hidden Devices Lead Police To Merchandise; Suspect Named

link to story
[url]
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/14195732/detail.html[/url]


After five burglaries at his store this summer, Chris Rowland decided to plant Global Positioning System devices in some of his merchandise.

The decision paid off with burglary No. 6.

Someone broke into the Woodcraft store in the Castleton area on Friday morning and stole woodworking tools. Rowland had placed GPS devices in some of the packaging.

The GPS system, we've wired it so that it phones my cell phone and tells me that it's on the move, and we can actually track it,"



The devices informed Rowland that the stolen items were at an apartment complex less than half a mile from his store. Later, the devices showed the merchandise had been moved to a house in Lawrence.

Rowland called police, who recovered the merchandise. Police said they're looking for Jeffrey Burton, who they named a suspect in all six burglaries.

Rowland said he was motivated to use the GPS devices after someone told him that he'd never catch whoever was burglarizing his store.


Jeffrey Burton

"The police obviously don't have resources to do this for me, so I decided I was going to catch the guy," Rowland said.

Burton, 46, also is wanted on burglary charges in Tennessee. Anyone with information on his whereabouts can call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at+13172628477
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Don't get too sucked into this hoax.

A lot of people just do not understand how a GPS works. GPS does not transmit; it only receives, like a transistor radio. Unless the GPS was combined with a cell phone, or some other device, it can’t talk to anyone. If it were integrated with a cell phone so it can call out, then both the GPS and the cell phone will need lot of battery supply to stay functioning. In addition, the unit will have to be calling all the time, one call right after another, unless there is another piece of electronics that has the computing logic to know when it has been moved, and only call out when it has been moved, and it will also need battery power too.

This whole configuration will not be small. If it is home made, it will be very big. If it is purchased pre-made, then it will be very expensive. If it is custom made like some of the dog tracker units, then it will need a monthly service fees. If he had planted multiple configurations for multiple tools, he would’ve had to spend lots of money, and I mean lots of money, and hope the thief steal the specific tool that had the whole configuration in it, and not the tool right next to it that doesn't have the configuration in it.

This is just not too likely in my opinion. Any configuration with GPS technology used for this type of purpose is not yet for prime time. In fact, a long ways from it.

The market may already be a lot more advanced than you realise:

http://www.texim-europe.com/promotion/4 ... _flyer.pdf
http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/mobil ... cator.html
http://www.sanav.com/gps_tracking/CT-58.html

A Google search for "gps tracker" will reveal many other devices that would fit the bill.

If I read the PO correctly, he said "TOOLS", not construction machinery or trucks. By saying tools in a store, that generally defines a group of things of a certain size and usage. That also means they needed a GPS configuration or something small enough to hide inside of it, and it also means there usually multiple of them, like many power drills inside of a store. For each one they wanted to protect, they will need a configuration. Bigger items are usually not called tools. Riding mowers are usually not tools. TVs are not tools either. Go to Sears or Home Depot’s “TOOLS” department, and see what you’ll find.

By the way, in your links, did you also notice that they are not cheap, and they usually require a monthly subscription fee? So if you want to protect 10 boxes of power drills, then you will need to pay 10 subscriptions fees.

I am not arguing that this technology does not exit. They have been around for ages. Fleet management like truckers, delivery vans, police and EMT, and even taxi cabs, lots of them. You can also get a dog tracker (+ monthly fee) for your puppy, or a kiddie tracker (+ monthly fee) for you kids. A hiker or a boater can get a unit (+ monthly fee) so they can notify families that they are safe, or notify EMT that they need help. But none of these configurations are small enough to fit inside of a “TOOL”.

GPS units are not like RFID chips that can respond to scanners. GPS configurations needs to be regularly fed with electricity. That means a lot of batteries or be plugged in.

Also, the PO said GPS units, not tracking devices. A tracking device may employ GPS technology, or some other technology. A GPS is a GPS. A GPS does not transmit. A new car may have a GPS in it, but you don’t call the whole car a GPS. A new cell phone may have a locating feature, which may employ a GPS or triangulation or some other methods, but you still call it a cell phone. My boat has 3 GPS units in it, but it is still a boat.

The www.findmespot.com Sat. Messenger, can do this if turned on.

The device at www.findmespot.com costs $ 169 to purchase plus an annual fee of $99. That is not a cost-effective way of protecting tools unless you are talking very high value tools. The unit is small, and the batteries are not going to have to be changed. If someone takes it inside (where you don't see a GPS signal) then how is it going to be found? So it wouldn't be worth it for a power tool that costs only $100 or so at the most. It is probably worth it for a device like an excavator that costs thousands, but that is not what they are talking about. Woodcraft doesn't sell excavators/power shovels - they sell good tools. Some are expensive, but can you imagine running around the store having to change batteries in all of those tools? Plus you'd have to open the boxes, and then who would buy them, thinking the are perhaps returned items or possibly defective. And if the thief simply opens the box and just keeps the tool, all the police would find would be the empty boxes.

Ummm - guys - I didn't say these systems were "cheap" (although that is all relative) or free to use - just pointing out that the original story could in fact be true, and need not be dismissed it as a hoax. (I have no personal knowledge of this story, by the way). I also have no personal knowledge of how each of these devices actually performs in the real world, but if I was the store-owner in question, I would certainly be prepared to investigate this approach.

As to "being small" and needing "lots of batteries" - well , most of these tracking devices are about the size of a mobile phone, and can operate for several days unattended, and would easily fit into the carton for a typical power-tool, so I would think they should be capable of doing the job.

I never meant to imply that this was a plausible method of tracking individual "tools" such as portable hand-tools etc - but as a means of tracking a pallet-full of recently received power tools, all in original packaging - absolutely! (Would the burglars who grabbed a consignment of circular saws open all the boxes in the store before making their getaway, to check for hidden tracking devices? I doubt it!)

It seems entirely plausible to me that a hardware store which has been repeatedly burglarised might try the GPS tracking approach. (Heck - they might even sell the suckers - and what a great advertisement it would make if they could show they had recovered some of their own stolen merchandise!) It would be a simple job for a store owner to buy 2 or 3, charge them up during the day (when the risk of a major burglary is pretty low), and put them in some inviting target cartons overnight.

I'm a newbie in GPS. Thanks for sharing these info.

really good info