The International Association of Marine Investigators estimates that approximately 27,000 boats are stolen every year. And if you are the owner of a boat, you certainly do not want to be a part of this number.
There is a boat owner in Florida who now knows firsthand that a GPS tracking device is an excellent investment. This boat owner is starting off the new year still in possession of his boat, thanks to GPS technology and quick action his part and on the part of the local police force. He installed a GPS tracking device on his boat back in October and this past week was alerted through a text message sent to his cell phone that someone had moved his boat.
The GPS tracking device that the man in this story chose was one that allowed him to set a certain range of movement for his boat. Once his boat moved out of the accepted range, the device was set to send him a text message to make him aware that his property was out of range.
Once he received this message about the unauthorized use of his boat courtesy of his GPS tracking device, the boat owner was able to inform the police. Included in the text message was information about the direction in which his boat was headed, so the police knew where to look for the stolen boat.
The police department was able to locate the boat using a helicopter. The boat, valued at around $200,000, was found to be in good condition. The boat thieves escaped and at press time, they were still on the run. However, the owner of the boat was likely quite relieved to have his property returned to him, even if the thieves were not apprehended right away.
A GPS tracking device like the SmartTrack that Rocky Mountain Tracking sells is equipped with a Geo-fence and you can have up to 2 geo-fences programmed at a time. Once your boat, vehicle or other asset is moved in or out of an area that you determine, the geo-fence goes into alert mode. When you have the geo-fence on, you can choose to receive an e-mail or SMS message to let you if the asset you are tracking crosses the boundaries you have set.
Add a GPS tracking device to your anti-theft arsenal today.
witch system was on the boat that got stolen?
Comment by bassman — January 14, 2009 @ 7:49 am