Skip to main content

Fleet-tracking technology aids arrest of car-theft gang

According to figures published by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, about 150,000 vehicles were stolen in Spain during 2013. According to Spanish communications specialist GMV, most drivers are unaware that a tracking device will make it much harder for thieves. Last November, a vehicle fitted with GMV’s fleet-tracking and -management system Moviloc was stolen in Madrid. The car owner reported the theft to the police and showed them the vehicle’s last recorded position on the tracking device. They w
July 31, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

According to figures published by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, about 150,000 vehicles were stolen in Spain during 2013. According to Spanish communications specialist 55 GMV, most drivers are unaware that a tracking device will make it much harder for thieves.

Last November, a vehicle fitted with GMV’s fleet-tracking and -management system Moviloc was stolen in Madrid. The car owner reported the theft to the police and showed them the vehicle’s last recorded position on the tracking device. They were then able to pinpoint the warehouse where the stolen vehicles were taken before being broken up and taken off to Poland.

The seven-month investigation enabled police to identify parts corresponding to 13 stolen vehicles and arrest two Poles who were working from the warehouse in the industrial estate.

“Moviloc offers a wide range of services and functions to give users exhaustive control over all driver activity, recording, for example, the runs and mileage and also whether the scheduled routes were covered in due time and form, all in real time”, explains Ramón Dávila, product head of Moviloc. “The report offered by this service tells you the number of stops made by any vehicle during any working day, the place and the time each stop lasted. All this information gives an instant snapshot of the vehicle’s movements on any particular day”.

“The onboard equipment is fitted invisibly so that no thief is aware of the tracking device”, explained a police spokesman.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New vehicle technologies ‘could help reduce fatalities on European motorways’
    March 5, 2015
    New safety technologies could play a major role in reducing the numbers killed on European motorways, according to the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), in a new report published today. The new analysis of developments in motorway safety shows that, despite recent progress, around 1,900 were killed on motorways in the EU in 2013. The report cites figures from several countries showing that up to 60 per cent of those killed in motorway collisions were not wearing a seatbelt. It calls on the EU to req
  • Enforcement needs automation and communication
    February 1, 2012
    TISPOL's Peter van de Beek questions whether the thought processes which drive enforcement technology development are always the right ones. Peter van de Beek sees an ever-greater role for technology in traffic enforcement but is concerned that the emphasis of technological development and discussion is not always in the right places. 'Old-fashioned' face-to-face policing remains as valid as it ever did, he feels, but adds that there should be greater communication with those engaged at the sharp end of saf
  • Assessing the potential of in-vehicle enforcement systems
    December 4, 2012
    Jason Barnes considers the social and ethical ramifications of using in-vehicle safety technologies to fulfil enforcement functions. Although policy documents often imply close correlation between enforcement, compliance and safety – in part, as a counter to accusations that enforcement is rather more concerned with revenue generation – there is a noticeable reluctance among policy makers and auto manufacturers to exploit in-vehicle safety systems for enforcement applications. From a technical perspective t
  • Business intelligence improves bus fleet management
    April 24, 2013
    Innovative use of fleet management-generated data has optimised passenger service running times and achieved full payback in its first quarter Metro Vancouver’s South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (TransLink) has gained substantial benefits in bus idle time savings from a business intelligence (BI) solution, built from data captured in its ITS-based fleet management system. Delivered by public transport ITS specialist Init under a contract awarded in 2006, this includes on-board computers,