My Mach-E Was Stolen

[Kamuelaflyer]

And how does a random blurry image with zero info or context help them? Actual police work does not involve wild goose chases. You have to catch them in the act or its almost impossible to convict for good reasons. Catching bad folks in the act requires a capable police department.

I’m actually very well aware of what actual police work entails. I spent a fair bit of my immediate post college years riding in and driving the green and white patrol cars of the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department. I still own my (former) service revolver and semiautomatic handgun in fact.

The comment you quoted was in reference to an earlier comment that implied that car thieves are not “bad guys”. My comment had and has nothing to do with camera images, prioritizing manpower, or anything else. And since I wrote the patrol schedules used for many years by the department, including for the incorporated cities that used the sheriffs department as their police, I’m probably more aware of requirements of prioritizing manpower than many are.

Sponsored

 

[Mach1E]

Got a call about 2 hours ago from the sheriff's office, they found it!

It was in an apartment complex about 20 minutes away. I had to stick in my roommate's car cause I was getting torn up by mosquitos but when she asked the officer about Ford not having a way to track a vehicle (since that's the official line given) he said something along the lines of "Yeah, that's bullshit."

It's thankfully not too badly damaged and definitely drivable, but since I had no way of turning it on (I don't remember if I ever got a second fob - if I did I cannot find it) we decided it would be best/safest for them to just tow it to their yard.

There was a lot of evidence left in the car so they were able to get fingerprints and whatever else they might need to help catch the theif/thieves, they said they'd let me know.

I'll need to call up my Ford dealership to see about getting a new fob and deactivating the old one, but that should be it.

I really appreciate everyone's help in this and it sounds like the discussion has spurred people to be more mindful of their car's security, so I'm going to call this a net win.

Congrats!

The line about tracking makes more and more sense.

Imagine your car gets stolen, Ford tells you where to find it.

Then you go to get it and get shot and killed.

Liability is pretty is pretty much Ford’s only concern at this point.

It’s like the old story of a bank worker who stopped a robbery and got fired. Seems crazy at first until you realize that the bank absolutely does not want you risking your life. And if you do risk your life against the rules, they won’t reward you for it.

If there is tracking capability or you put something in the car to track it yourself, you should only have one use for it:

Give the info to the authorities.

 

[SnBGC]

Yeah, I think some salt grains are definitely in order for the info they gave you. I have SecuriAlert and there's no option in it to report your car stolen. And considering it was the headline (only?) feature in the release notes for 1.4.0, I find it hard to believe it was added by mistake.

Maybe the ability to report the car as stolen appears when the user presses the Report Incident button? I have never tried it myself.....

 

[NPVinny]

Congrats!

The line about tracking makes more and more sense.

Imagine your car gets stolen, Ford tells you where to find it.

Then you go to get it and get shot and killed.

Liability is pretty is pretty much Ford’s only concern at this point.

It’s like the old story of a bank worker who stopped a robbery and got fired. Seems crazy at first until you realize that the bank absolutely does not want you risking your life. And if you do risk your life against the rules, they won’t reward you for it.

If there is tracking capability or you put something in the car to track it yourself, you should only have one use for it:

Give the info to the authorities.

I get that they don't want me trying to get the vehicle myself, but I never even asked for the car's location directly. All I ever asked for was a phone number I could give to law enforcement, but I guess they don't want us common folk knowing even that kind of information.

 

[ARK]

Got a call about 2 hours ago from the sheriff's office, they found it!

It was in an apartment complex about 20 minutes away. I had to stick in my roommate's car cause I was getting torn up by mosquitos but when she asked the officer about Ford not having a way to track a vehicle (since that's the official line given) he said something along the lines of "Yeah, that's bullshit."

It's thankfully not too badly damaged and definitely drivable, but since I had no way of turning it on (I don't remember if I ever got a second fob - if I did I cannot find it) we decided it would be best/safest for them to just tow it to their yard.

There was a lot of evidence left in the car so they were able to get fingerprints and whatever else they might need to help catch the theif/thieves, they said they'd let me know.

I'll need to call up my Ford dealership to see about getting a new fob and deactivating the old one, but that should be it.

I really appreciate everyone's help in this and it sounds like the discussion has spurred people to be more mindful of their car's security, so I'm going to call this a net win.

Congratulations on getting it back. Was it just some druggies who wanted to steal it to have a car to drive rather than take it to a chop shop? If so, the Mach-E has got to be among the worst cars a thief can steal if they just want to blend in and low-key drive it around town.

Glad you got it back and hope the damage isn’t too bad.

Did the cops say how they located it?

 

[theo1000]

The comment you quoted was in reference to an earlier comment that implied that car thieves are not “bad guys”. My comment had and has nothing to do with camera images, prioritizing manpower, or anything else.

I think that particular misunderstanding is all your own. No one implied that car thieves are not bad guys and not worthy of justice. The discussion was whether car cameras were any use in the pursuit.

As you can see the cops recovered the vehicle no camera videos needed and chasing random folks involved. Police dept that knows what it is doing.

BTW I do thank you for your service in law enforcement. Its a tough thankless job and not appreciated as much as it should be.

 

[RickMachE]

Depending on the state, if the criminals are caught, OP may be in for some reimbursement from them.

My son had his rental house broken into in Florida. Got an alert that one of his credit cards was being used, and he was surprised because it was in his dresser at home... Headed home, found the result. They actually took his car, filled it with his stuff, drove it to their place, unloaded it, drove it back, and put the key back. Guess they were trying to avoid a charge for grand theft auto? Anyway, he got a great settlement from the insurance company, much of his stuff was "special employee orders" that he got working for a chain electronics store, and they were items that were bleeding edge at the time, but no longer mainstream. They had to do a like for like replacement, so he got very good payouts since the items were not widely available.

Anyway, then they caught the criminal(s), and they have to pay restitution to the court for a long time. He's getting quarterly(?) payments from the court, I think he said it will add up to many thousands of dollars, and something like 4 - 6 years, I forget the particulars. So he'll end up with twice the valuation, reimbursement and insurance payout.

 

[NPVinny]

Heard back from the officer:

"I was driving around an apartment complex near [local intersection] and noticed the car parked oddly and when I ran the tag I learned it was stolen. We followed the car for a short period of time and lost it for a little while when it turned into the apartment complex off [local road]. By the time we found it again the suspects were already gone."

The weird thing is it looks like they maybe took the car over the lip of a parking block/curb and left it in a small field next to one of the apartment buildings. If you're going to abandon it why not just... park it? Though I'm going to go out on a limb here and say car thieves are not the brightest bunch.

 

[0t60-3.5]

Curious, what was the state of charge and compare that to the state of charge when it was stolen? Would like to know if these criminals had any inkling of what they stole - an electric vehicle. It would be instructive if they had resources to plug it in... at public charger or private charger.

 

[ReelSweet]

Curious, what was the state of charge and compare that to the state of charge when it was stolen? Would like to know if these criminals had any inkling of what they stole - an electric vehicle. It would be instructive if they had resources to plug it in... at public charger or private charger.

I'm sure they preconditioned every morning, set the charge max to 90% for long term battery health, decided whether they would use the Ford Mobile Charger that came with the car or install one from ChargePoint, connected to wifi to downloaded 1.7.1, had PAAK work flawlessly and even got a second key FOB somehow

 

[UnforAll]

Glad the OP has his car back.

FYI, here's something from today's Washington Post print edition; by an SF-based tech writer. Discusses the uses and potential problems with devices such as AirTags, Tile, Chipolo, and Galaxy SmartTag, and stresses getting law enforcement involved.
At the bottom of the article is a summary table, "How to safely use Bluetooth trackers on stolen property"
Don't want to debate whether everything she wrote, or the various app reps and LE personnel said, is "correct," just putting it out here for info and consideration.

"I found my stolen Honda Civic using a Bluetooth tracker"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/28/airtags-theft/

 

[alexgorod]

I'm sure they preconditioned every morning, set the charge max to 90% for long term battery health, decided whether they would use the Ford Mobile Charger that came with the car or install one from ChargePoint, connected to wifi to downloaded 1.7.1, had PAAK work flawlessly and even got a second key FOB somehow

I think it was someone who put a reservation 15 and ordered exactly the same configuration 10 months ago, got the production week in August and the car was on the chips waitlist for months and then got lost with a "Shipped" status attached to it. There is a limit to how much a man can take sometimes...

 

[Garbone]

Got a call about 2 hours ago from the sheriff's office, they found it!

It was in an apartment complex about 20 minutes away. I had to stick in my roommate's car cause I was getting torn up by mosquitos but when she asked the officer about Ford not having a way to track a vehicle (since that's the official line given) he said something along the lines of "Yeah, that's bullshit."

It's thankfully not too badly damaged and definitely drivable, but since I had no way of turning it on (I don't remember if I ever got a second fob - if I did I cannot find it) we decided it would be best/safest for them to just tow it to their yard.

There was a lot of evidence left in the car so they were able to get fingerprints and whatever else they might need to help catch the theif/thieves, they said they'd let me know.

I'll need to call up my Ford dealership to see about getting a new fob and deactivating the old one, but that should be it.

I really appreciate everyone's help in this and it sounds like the discussion has spurred people to be more mindful of their car's security, so I'm going to call this a net win.

Good news.

Lived in worked in Sanford for a few years. A neighbor of mine had an old Crown Vic he inherited from his grandma. The tumblers in the locks were so worn and old any key would work and his car would get stolen about once or twice a year. The police would find it a few miles away a few days later. He never fixed the locks as he figured they would get pissed and break a window. They never even stole his classic rock CDs, guess they just needed a ride.

 

[TheCats]

Curious, what was the state of charge and compare that to the state of charge when it was stolen? Would like to know if these criminals had any inkling of what they stole - an electric vehicle. It would be instructive if they had resources to plug it in... at public charger or private charger.

I hadn't thought much about how a low-end thief charges a stolen EV.

With an ICE car a thief can pay cash at a gas station, or risk using a stolen credit card while being recorded on the cameras that every station has. A smarter one can refill from gas cans to avoid being tied to the stolen vehicle.

But with an EV the thief has to figure out how to charge. Using a stolen credit card at a public station risks the police arriving before charging is finished. Using their own credit card ties them to the vehicle, as does charging at their own home.

 

[@SARANED]

To be fair, I would hope the local police take the theft of a $60,000 car much more seriously than some $60 Amazon package.

50 years ago they would have but in my state they enacted a law that changed Auto theft to joy riding which placed it below your 60 dollar amazon package in priority.

Sponsored