John Bendall owner of Re/Max Classic Group warns of theft of GPS devices from cars.

Many of us, certainly those of us in the Real Estate business, have become some what reliant on our GPS units to find our way around.  The popularity of these devices has grown amongst users and now that popularity has extended to thieves. According to a recent article in the Courier News there has been a rash of stolen GPS units from cars in our area.  “A number of local police departments say they have noticed a spike in the theft of dashboard-mounted Global Positioning Systems, whether through smash-and-grab break-ins or thieves simply entering unlocked vehicles.”  

Parking your car in a crowded parking lot in broad daylight does not ensure the safety of your belongings.  Most of the car break-in’s have occurred during the day.  Many of the navigation devices are designed for easy installation in your vehicle; it is this feature that makes them popular with thieves.  It is apparently takes only seconds to smash a car window and remove the GPS from a vehicle.  However, even more often than the windows are smashed units are taken from unlocked cars.  Portable GPS units are also usually designed to mount on the dashboard or in the front window of your vehicle.  This makes them very visible so it is easy for a thief to spot them.  Permanent units are not usually victim to theft, as they would be much harder to remove from the car. 

Garmin one of the makers of GPS devices is working on building in some security with a product called Garmin Lock.  “Garmin Lock disables the functions of its GPS units until a four-digit user-selected personal identification number is punched in, or the unit is taken to a predetermined security location. Each time the device is activated, the user must enter the PIN to unlock the device. If the user forgets the PIN, he can go to the security location and the device will unlock.”  This security feature makes the units less attractive for theft, as there is no market for a device that can not be used on the black market.

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