Archive for the ‘crime’ Category

In any normal vehicle, a slight drain on the battery is no big deal. But if you have a hybrid—or, for that matter, if you have a finicky old British roadster in the garage that needs to be hooked up to a trickle charger all the time—you want to minimize what's tapping into your power. That's why LoJack has announced a new self-powered stolen-vehicle recovery system, aimed at hybrid vehicles, collector vehicles, and future electric models.

Though it's not yet clear what the energy source will be for the "self-powered" system, LoJack says that this next-generation system—set to become available late next year—will allow more flexibility in...

We have some good news. Even last year's start of the recession wasn't enough to reverse the downward trend in auto theft. The number of registered vehicles in the U.S. has doubled over the past 20 years, yet the overall vehicle theft rate has fallen—12.7 percent just from 2007 to 2008.

According to the FBI, there were 956,846 motor-vehicle thefts in 2008, down significantly from 1,095,769 thefts in 2007 and 1,237,851 thefts in 2004. Thefts reached a peak in 1991, when a total of about 1.66 million vehicles were stolen.

Overall, the rate of vehicle thefts per 100,000 people has gone from 659 in 1991 to 315 today, and adjusted for the...

The practical, fuel efficient Chevrolet Aveo can save you money both on the purchase price and the gasoline it sips in use. The four-door sedan seats four, and the hatchback offers easily accessible load space for canvas sacks stuffed with banknotes.

But if you're going to use it for a getaway, hang onto your car keys after you rob that bank.

Neglecting that handy hint landed a gang of four robbers in the clink in the town of Bear, Delaware, yesterday, after one of them locked the keys to his Chevrolet Aveo in the bank they had just robbed.

Three men wearing wigs, along with one woman, entered the Artisans Bank yesterday morning just after...