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These are hard times for the criminal element. Unfortunately, it’s fairly safe to assume that times are generally hard for the criminal element, which is why they’ve resorted to high-risk sources of income. With the introduction of GPS tracking, it is becoming more and more difficult to get away with theft. It seems that at least once a week there is a story in the news about police using GPS tracking to recover stolen property. Often, the property is recovered while in the possession of the criminal, hopefully teaching a hard-won lesson to the unlucky thieves. Just last week, GPS tracking was used to locate equipment stolen from Chesapeake Energy still in the pickup of the culprit.

One of the services police provide is recovering stolen property. Unfortunately, all too many theft incidents end up with no resolution. If there is no evidence left at the scene of the crime, there isn’t much police can do to help. It is up to the owner to sufficiently protect his or her property with security measures, like surveillance cameras and GPS devices. Fortunately, Chesapeake Energy took precautions by installing GPS into their valuable equipment.

“Chesapeake Energy is utilizing all available resources to assist law enforcement in making arrests of those individuals stealing oilfield assets such as batteries, solar panels, gas pipe, compressors, meters, and tubing,” said J. Anthony Sweeney, Chesapeake Energy’s senior security officer.

A GPS tracking device installed in the stolen battery of a solar panel was tracked to the parking lot of a Little General store, in a GMC pickup owned by 35-year-old Danny Lee Buckley. Buckley admitted to the theft and was arrested. The stolen equipment was valued at $2,000 and returned to the energy company. “This has been a collaborative, successful effort between the West Virginia State Police and Chesapeake Energy Security, and we’re pulling our resources and expertise together to recover these stolen assets,” said Sweeney.

Photo by Paul Resh through Flickr Creative Commons