If It Is The Least Consolation...

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The gunman that carjacked the Canadian Rainbirds Jeep, is now way down in the basement shoveling coal for eternity.

I don't believe this "chisme" (gossip) to be idle rumor. There was a massive gunfight just outside of Caleta de Campos, Michoacan a few days ago and the rurales killed more than a dozen sicarios (gun men) at a huge roadblock. One of the -no longer with us- is strongly believed to be -the one- that robbed the Jeep. His name was "Carlos". I believe what my family tells me, not what some yellow journalism website or mass media conjures up.

The "Self Defense Forces" are going house-to-house, routing crooks, drug dealers and scumbags. From Cerro de Ortega to Lazaro Cardenas, hundreds of Templarios have been shot or arrested or fled into the mountains. Rumor has it over TEN THOUSAND gente are taking part in this flushing of the toilet.

Every last PJE, state cop has been fired. Weapons confiscated. Policias Preventivas del municipios (like sheriff deputies) have been forcibly removed from duty, weapons confiscated. Presidentes de municipios have been indicted by the federal attorney general. Same with ministerio publicos. The MP who did the paperwork on the rainbirds Jeep is history. He was an employee of the Templarios.

A massive effort of Marinas and Rurales have cleaned out Playa Azul, La Mira, Arteaga, and are now headed for Lazaro Cardenas.

Enough! Michoacan is one of the nicest, most beautiful states in la republica. I do not expect the governor and his lackeys to survive the most massive cleanup in recent Mexico history. When the public effort gets finished, the state will be cleaner and safer than any other. The rurales are NOT going to go away. They are going to keep working with los marinas and el ejercito until this state is safe for tourism once again.

WHY? You ask, am I so emotional about this? in the parking lot of Bodega Aurrera, with my two grand daughters, a gunfight took place in the street and edge of the parking lot. A bullet chipped concrete and has left a scar across my forehead. It's been this way for five years now. Dalia age 5 wet herself so bad and Pilar kept screaming te sangrear (you are bleeding!) My face and shirt front was soaked in blood. Cinco puntas (five stitches).

I realize some of you could care less. This is your right. But others may be interested in knowing what actually is taking place. Michoacan is a place of peace and beauty. The templarios are learning this the most hardest of ways.

[briansue]

This whole tracker thing could be argued to death. If the crooks are high tech pros then tracking could be moot. But if the thieves are not that sophisticated they will have no idea what to do or how to do it. Combine tracking with an auto shutdown and the vehicle will not get that far away. The vehicle will shutdown and the bad guys will run. In the case of the stolen toad they had a getaway vehicle and the vehicle owners still had an RV to follow. Many factors can be brought up and weighed. No one could state that one of these systems can be of use in every situation or even that you will ever need it. As stated above - you lock you car to slow thieves down and this could stop many - but not all - and the pros do not need keys. We also buy insurance - I have for 50 years and never needed it (but will continue to buy it). What is the potential value of one of these systems and how much is it worth to you - and how much does it cost - factor it in to your personal situation and go from there. The SPOT system mentioned above is totally satellite with no phone company middleman so it works everywhere - NOT LOJACK. It can be hardwired and hidden. Keep in mind that this is not just for Mexico but anywhere your vehicle might be - even down the block from your house. Sure - it may be of no use if a gang of international professionals pick your vehicle as a must have - but if some local goofballs go for a joy ride they will go about 2 miles and shutdown and you can pick up your unharmed vehicle shortly after it is taken. Lots of scenarios. Which one fits you? That is the question only each individual can answer.

[silversand]

... absolutely know how, when, who and how long this technology has been "out there in the wild".

GPS tracking and hidden shut-down equipment also shouldn't be ignored just because some people might have the technology to counter it

GPS theft tracking systems on automobiles are virtually useless in all but VERY specific markets in the US and Canada (in fact, only half the US states have LoJack-capable recovery and NCIC FBI coordination therewith). I read that ALL other GPS anti-theft systems (includng GM's On-Star) can be disabled by even the most unprofessional professional car thief in minutes! Anyhow, LoJack Mexico: what if you (or, LoJack Mx) manage to track your stolen vehicle to a locale in Mexico; are you going to launch an armed assault on the thieves with a few buddies? With a Mexican SWAT team (LOL!) ? Will LoJack Mx give you a fat discount on your Mexican auto insurance?

IMO: get a good peer-reviewed insurance policy (with new replacement value, if your vehicle(s) are newer vintage).

[paulcardoza]

There's no doubt about the technology and its effectiveness. HOWEVER, whether you have a 5min, 10min or whatever shutdown period in the vehicle what are the odds of it actually being recovered and returned to you once stolen.

[Turtle-Toad]

Silversand,
It isn't theoretical, GPS tracking has been used in the container industry for years. Also in the construction, Heavy equipment, transportation (think buses, cabs, rail cars, etc) fields. Even for recreational boating. And all the tugs in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca have GPS tracking so the Coast Guard knows instantly where each one is if they need one. I believe this is true for all the US harbors now.

Heck, even skiers carry them in case they get avalanched!

But that's not the point. Any security or anti-theft technology can be violated! But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't lock your car! GPS tracking and hidden shut-down equipment also shouldn't be ignored just because some people might have the technology to counter it. It's just another way to lock your car.

[silversand]

R & V wrote:
People with expensive heavy machinery are still using this technology and recovering a good percentage of their missing assets

Good point. I suppose almost everything with an substantial value being shipped today could be (theoretically) implanted with cheap GPS "throw-away" tracking technology (literally millions of products shipped World-wide)...this would make GPS implanted products ubiquitous. would bet that containers themselves could be implanted, and even products within the implanted shipping container would/may be implanted (ie. nested implantation). So, the efficacy of targeting any specific product genre as a target for organized theft would inform a product-specific statistic....etc

[RonYVickie]

I am sure that the Jackson's and our vehicles were taken by "low tech" people, but either way, it should be a good thing to tell the insurance company after the fact. People with expensive heavy machinery are still using this technology and recovering a good percentage of their missing assets. I'm sure that if it was easily and quickly defeated in most cases, it wouldn't be the growth industry it is. The other part of this is that people at home can see where you are, and if you have a single-vehicle accident and plunge into the bush, you or your family members can be found fairly quickly, not 2 weeks later, as has happened in quite a few cases. RYV

[briansue]

Based on statistics we should be at least somewhat concerned about having one of our vehicles taken no matter where we go. Below are some statistics from the US FBI and the US Dept. of Justice. Having a tracker and some sort of shut down device could be useful no matter where we go. I have no idea what percent of thefts are carried out by professional criminal organizations or how many are done by lone wolves. We lock our cars and take our keys and we have insurance - having a tracker and a shut down could be just another level of protection. Whether any of this will stop a professional is open to debate - obviously.


http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/property-crime/motor-vehicle-theft

There were an estimated 721,053 thefts of motor vehicles nationwide in 2012. The estimated rate of motor vehicle thefts was 229.7 per 100,000 inhabitants.

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/c02.pdf

38,000 carjacking victimizations occurred annually

Carjacking
The criminal taking of a motor vehicle from its driver by force, violence, or intimidation.

A weapon was used in 74% of carjacking victimizations.
Firearms were used in 45% of carjackings,
knives in 11%, and other weapons in 18%

[silversand]

A gps tracker and anti hijack device is looking cheaper all the time

....sorry to tell you, but I read on the Internet that: any TSCM (either contractor, independent or other) can locate, and shut down ANY hidden miniature GPS device (or, bug) hidden in any vehicle very quickly. I speculate that IF the Mexican car theft industry (thousands of vehicles per day) is as big as we read about in the "media", "they" probably readily have this countermeasures technology...and probably utilize it within minutes (or hours) of the vehicle theft = no effective tracking possible /?/

[qtla9111]

MW, you make do with what information you can get your hands on. From the three options I listed, they all concur and that is enough for me to avoid Tierra Caliente. We rv on the fringe of Michoacán bordering Jalisco and no one has any issues this season.

You are a good writer and journalist and with all of your inside contacts; ex-Templarios, Federales, Municipales, etc., maybe you should start a blog and inform people with all of your knowledge if the media, SEGOB, and the narco blogs are yellow.

[RonYVickie]

If anyone is still interested, this is where I went for my tracker.
http://www.blacklinegps.com/ They are hard-wired, no batteries to monitor, although we have arrived in Patzcuaro with a Spot Tracker working as well, and we only changed the Spot batteries once on the way through the US. The Blackline can be scheduled for whatever interval you want and there is monitoring and recovery service available on several levels. RYV

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I get email every day "How about Patzcuaro?" "How about passing through Morelia down 14-D to Mex 200 then to Zihuatenjo".

There are ONE HELL OF A LOT MORE AREAS TO STEER CLEAR OF than tierra caliente. Do you know where is El Infiernillo? Or Cuatro Caminos? Any state bordering Michoacan stay 50 miles away unless on a cuota or major highway.

News media? Government? Cartel yellow journalism sites? Wonderful if you like partial information.

The rats are fleeing as you say. Of course as they flee Michoacan, they will grab their cameras, spray paint and burros and start taking tourist+burro zebra photographs for a living or wash windows in intersections.

Lucky for tourists a lot of this will iron out before next winter. But there are perhaps 5,000 ex-templario sicarios "looking for work" all over Mexico right now. This information is not from my imagination. We talk about this every day. Old Michoacaneros know how things operate. They talk, I listen.

[qtla9111]

MW, that's exactly what I said. Travel in other states. No one can say with any certainty what is going on or what will happen. There are no experts when it comes to these rats as they have no sense of how to run their business other than using scare tactics. I never said not to take precautions.

Tourists must be a bit more savvy than you think or we would hear about it here especially if it's an rver. I think the news media, government, cartel blog websites have made it obvious to steer clear of Michoacán or at least Tierra Caliente. ENTIENDES? JMHO

[MEXICOWANDERER]

If the car is 100' away you don't need SPOT or FIDO or whatever.

Your car is WHERE? Jajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajaja

There are lots of places, what 100,000? Where nothing less than a convoy of SSP or militar will enter. For a car? Get real. How much does an alumanized tarp cost. You know for people that ten thousand dollars is spare change? Goodbye sat signal. Think you are dealing with fools?

QTLA9111,

Right now, tourists NEED to be scared of Michoacan. THERE ARE NO POLICE HERE NOW, ENTIENDES? No preventivas, no transitos, no policias municipales, no PJE, NaDa! Only SSP, and los militares. They travel in convoy. Their focus is on LCT and the ladrones move into the areas of vacuum. It's going to be like this for awhile. Get used to it.

The rest of Mexico is safe. I move around areas in Michoacan that are relatively safe, even Mex 200 on the coast. But not in Tierra Caliente, or very rural areas. Tourists do not know the in's and out's of how to do this in Michoacan. If a tourist does not understand the difference between Michoacan and Nuevo Leon and does not wish to take 5-minutes to learn, maybe it is best they stay home under the bed. Mexico is not Knott's Berry Farm. Traveling ignorant is every bit as stupid in Mexico as it is in the USA.

[briansue]

Tequila,

I like your ideas. Using the Spot with some sort of shut down device will help to find the vehicle whether law enforcement helps or not. Hopefully they won't have time to get to their hideout. I sent an email to Spot but got no response. I asked about pricing. It says online that it is as low as $100 a year but I wonder where it goes from there? Seems like something that could work. Could be useful for other things too - using the Lat Lon numbers from the Spot as a locator to tell others places we have been. So do you know the pricing structure from Spot? And what kind of shutdown device did you get? Where? How much? We used to set up trucks with a valve in the fuel line you could easily manually turn before getting out of the truck (under the seat)- very simple basic device. What else is out there?

[Tequila]

I have a spot and it works well. You can go to a webpage and see on google Earth or google maps exactly where the vehicle is. Now I do realize that if its up in the hills, the police may not do anything, but if you get an anti hijack device as well which shuts the truck down, the GPS tracker will let you know where it is.

The spot trace will work of USB power. A 12v to USB adapter is cheap. I intend to put mine in behind one of my side mirrors where there is plenty of room. There is 12v sitting there whether or not the ignition is on. At present I have it fastened to the roof of my meciine cabine tin my RV where no one will find it. The signal pentrate the wood & TPO roof no problem. As long as they take the RV with the truck that works, but it makes more sense to install it in the truck.

You can see the output from my Spot at this link:

My Location