Upper Darby Township Car Insurance
Upper Darby Police Get Bait Car | Insurance.us
By Mari A. Schaefer, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Oct. 26–The video clips are all over the Internet: unsuspecting thieves caught stealing cars — bait cars — set out by police and outfitted with state-of-the-art GPS tracking devices and video cameras.
One driver in California cried when nabbed.
“Oh, no. They got me,” he wailed.
The cars have been used for about 15 years, in hundreds of departments across the country and in Canada. Starting soon, they’ll make getting away with car theft in Upper Darby a little more difficult. The township plans to introduce its first bait car Wednesday.
“If we can eliminate a crime for preventative measures, it is a win for everyone,” said Michael J. Chitwood, police superintendent.
The bait car might be the first in the Philadelphia region. Pennsylvania state police do not use bait cars, said Sgt. James Fisher of the Media barracks, and he was unaware of anyone in the region who does.
Minneapolis has run a bait-car program for 11 years, and thefts have dropped 58 percent, Officer Wayne Johnson said.
“We are getting the hard-core offender, and that is who we want,” said Johnson, who runs what he called a “fleet” of bait cars. Two thieves, he said, even took bait cars to drive to court hearings for unrelated crimes.
In Vancouver, British Columbia, auto thefts have dropped 71 percent in the seven years the city has used the decoy cars, according to the Police Department’s Web site. And sometimes, just the notice that bait cars are coming deters criminals. Thefts in Yuma, Ariz., dropped after signs warning that there might be bait cars were posted in a high-crime area before the cars were put on the street.
Allstate Insurance donated the Upper Darby car. Allstate restores damaged cars and outfits them with about $20,000 in technology before giving them to police, said Chris Conner, a company spokesman. It has donated 14 bait cars across the country; the Upper Darby car is its first in this region.
...Kampung boy with a drive for success
Mr Ler joined the tyre industry after graduating from National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) in 1995.Prior to venturing out on his own, he was sales director at US-based firm Cooper Tire for which he was stationed in Shanghai for two years. Before that, he had stints in Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby Berhad, and Singapore-listed Stamford Tyres which based him in Hong Kong for five years.
Visitors to Mr Ler's portal can buy from a wide selection of tyres which his firm sources worldwide. Prices are stated openly and one can find tyre reviews too. Once tyres are bought, Tyrepac's mobile fitters will deliver and put them on the vehicles. Another option is for customers to visit one of 16 tyre dealers appointed by the firm.
Tyrepac also provides automotive servicing at your doorstep, a service that is popular with women customers, Mr Ler said. Since it started early this year, his portal www.tyrepac.com has been ranked among the six most popular sites by research firm Hitwise, drawing 25,000 hits a month.
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