A drone
Photo: Reuters
Car-tracking company employs drones to retrieve stolen cars
After authorities allow Ituran, a car tracking and protection company, to use drones to track stolen cars, the company succesfully carries out an operation to retrieve a stolen Israeli car in Tulkarem, a major Palestinian city; head of Operational Systems, Oded Paz, says drones provide an additional force in the war on car theft.
Authorities have now permitted private security companies to operate drones. Mamon, Ynet's sister publication, learned that Ituran, a company that provides tracking and protection services for vehicles, has successfully employed drones to locate stolen car in the past few weeks.
Drones are now providing the largest stolen car tracking companies in Israel with capabilities that had been previously limited to the security forces. These companies can use drones in the locating phase wherein the thieves are attempting to hide stolen cars in orchards and non-residential areas until law enforcement reaches the scene. Additionally they will employ them to locate stolen vehicles that cross the green line.
A drone
For example, last week Ituran rescued a stolen Buick Lacrosse in Tulkarem. Company employees first used the drone to locate the car in the Palestinian city and then traveled there with IDF forces and loaded the car onto a tow truck. Thereafter, they returned the car to Israel and its legal owners.
"Drones constitute an additional force in the war on car theft," said Oded Paz, Ituran's head of Operational Systems. The downward trend in stolen cars continued this year. According to police data, 5400 cars were stolen between January and May, a decrease of 19 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2015.
