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Auto Safety Net

The car alarms of the 1990s
do more than just make noise.

RON GASBARRO

Special to The Jewish News

ou may not like
the idea of a car
alarm — they
always seem to go
off at 3 a.m. and
are triggered by lightning or
the neighbor's cat. But going
out to your car and finding it
has disappeared is even
worse. -
Car theft is on the rise.
Luckily, car alarms are
becoming more sophisticated
so that they contact the car
owner directly.

y

According to a study
published in August 1990 by
the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation, the number of
stolen vehicles continues to
climb, rising 9.2 percent na-
tionally from 1988 to 1989
and 42 percent from 1985 to

1989, despite widespread
federal and state efforts to
curb motor vehicle thefts.
The FBI estimates that one
out of every 121 registered
motor vehicles was stolen in
1989, resulting in a "crime
clock" of one vehicle theft
every 20 seconds.
At this 9.2 percent rise, car
thefts are increasing at a
faster rate than larceny theft
(up 1 percent), arson (down 3
percent) and burglary (down
5 percent), says the National
Auto Theft Bureau, in Palos
Hills, Ill.
Your car as a single item is
not the only thing in demand
by thieves according to one
study from the Vehicle
Security Association in
Washington, D.C. Last year,
thefts of motor vehicle parts,
accessories and contents con-
stituted the largest number of
reported larcencies at 38 per-

cent — that comes to 3 million
actual crimes.
The average value of pro-
perty stolen from cars was
$502. For thefts of motor vehi-
cle accessories, like radios
and tape decks, the average
loss was $315 although the

"New systems
contact the police
and identify the
exact location of
the car."

FBI cautions the estimated
dollar loss is conservative
since many offenses in the
larceny-theft category are
never reported to the police.
In Michigan, 937 out of
every 100,000 cars are stolen,
says the AAA of Michigan.
The state ranks seventh na-
tionally in car thefts. Detroit

had 13,763 auto thefts in
1990, up 2.8 percent from '89.
Neighboring cities fared
worse: Kansas City was up 37
percent; Indianapolis was up
33 percent; Milwaukee, up 25
percent.
Enough of the numbers.
Your car is not safe. Car
thieves know how to crack
windows, jimmy ignitions and
pop trunk doors. A car securi-
ty system is as vital as a
home security system.
"We support the use of auto
theft deterrents," says Conrad
Golemba, administrator of
the Anti-Theft Program for
AAA of Michigan. "Most
systems do what they are sup-
posed to do: buy time, slow
down the thief. Michigan is
one of the few states in the
country whereby insurance
companies are mandated to
give a discount — 5 to 25 per-

cent — to those car owners
who install alarms."
Of the newest innovations
in the car security industry,
two stand out: 1) systems that
contact the car owner and/or
police directly, via telephone
or radio transmissions and 2)
systems that can identify to
authorities the exact position
of the car.
Teletrac Systems in In-
glewood, Calif., has just hook-
ed the city of Los Angeles to
such a car tracking system.
Vehicle owners wanting to
participate in the program
buy a transmitter for their
car. This transmitter makes
continual contact with the 40
antennae around the city.
Through the use of high-
speed computers and a track-
ing process called triangula-
tion, the coordinates of a car's
location can be plotted. This

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS A21