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Man commits suicide after police track him with Lojack system www.privateofficer.com
March 27, 2009
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Aurora CO Mar 27 2009
Authorities used the stolen vehicle tracking system LoJack to find an Aurora man who disappeared with his two young daughters after their mother was found dead in their home.
Brian Patterson shot and killed himself in front of his two young daughters in his car after police pulled him over in Thornton Tuesday night, police said. His daughters were found unharmed.
Patterson and his daughters, 4-year-old Brianna and 3-year-old Aliyah, vanished after Aurora police found the girls’ mother, Pamela Patterson, shot to death in their home Tuesday morning.
LoJack Liaison Jerry Cole said he received a call from an Aurora police officer about an hour before Brian Patterson was found, asking him to run a check on Patterson’s vehicle identification number to see if it had a LoJack device installed. It did.
“They wanted to be able to locate and rescue the children and it was their welfare that they were hoping to achieve by quickly locating that car,” Cole said.
Cole said typically officers only enable LoJack to find a car that has been reported stolen. This time, authorities did something unusual — they entered Patterson’s car as “stolen” in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, forcing the LoJack device to kick in.
“They elected to enter the vehicle as a stolen vehicle for the purpose of quickly locating it in hopes of finding the children and being able to save them,” Cole said.
Cole said once officers labeled Patterson’s car as stolen, the LoJack device was able to locate it in less than five minutes.
“The radio signal is broadcast,” said Cole. “Once the radio signal reaches the vehicle, whereever it is, whether it’s out in the open or in a parking garage or shipping container, then the LoJack device, which is concealed in the customer’s car, wakes up.”
Unbeknownst to Patterson, shortly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, the homing device on his LoJack silently went off, alerting officers within a few miles of his whereabouts.
Cole said LoJack systems inside a number of patrol cars that were in the area instantly began emitting a tone and providing information about the Amber Alert that was out for Patterson and his children.
Cole said the device also gave officers directions to get closer to Patterson’s vehicle.
“You have signal strength, which can tell you whether you’re ‘hot’ or ‘cold,’ using the analogy of the children’s game,” Cole said.
About 10 percent of law enforcement patrol cars in Colorado are equipped with LoJack systems.
Cole said they are installed free of charge in law enforcement vehicles. He said the tracking device can only be turned on by law enforcement and is only used if a car is stolen or in “extraordinary circumstances,” like an Amber Alert.
Authorities used the stolen vehicle tracking system LoJack to find an Aurora man who disappeared with his two young daughters after their mother was found dead in their home.
Brian Patterson shot and killed himself in front of his two young daughters in his car after police pulled him over in Thornton Tuesday night, police said. His daughters were found unharmed.
Patterson and his daughters, 4-year-old Brianna and 3-year-old Aliyah, vanished after Aurora police found the girls’ mother, Pamela Patterson, shot to death in their home Tuesday morning.
LoJack Liaison Jerry Cole said he received a call from an Aurora police officer about an hour before Brian Patterson was found, asking him to run a check on Patterson’s vehicle identification number to see if it had a LoJack device installed. It did.
“They wanted to be able to locate and rescue the children and it was their welfare that they were hoping to achieve by quickly locating that car,” Cole said.
Cole said typically officers only enable LoJack to find a car that has been reported stolen. This time, authorities did something unusual — they entered Patterson’s car as “stolen” in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, forcing the LoJack device to kick in.
“They elected to enter the vehicle as a stolen vehicle for the purpose of quickly locating it in hopes of finding the children and being able to save them,” Cole said.
Cole said once officers labeled Patterson’s car as stolen, the LoJack device was able to locate it in less than five minutes.
“The radio signal is broadcast,” said Cole. “Once the radio signal reaches the vehicle, whereever it is, whether it’s out in the open or in a parking garage or shipping container, then the LoJack device, which is concealed in the customer’s car, wakes up.”
Unbeknownst to Patterson, shortly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, the homing device on his LoJack silently went off, alerting officers within a few miles of his whereabouts.
Cole said LoJack systems inside a number of patrol cars that were in the area instantly began emitting a tone and providing information about the Amber Alert that was out for Patterson and his children.
Cole said the device also gave officers directions to get closer to Patterson’s vehicle.
“You have signal strength, which can tell you whether you’re ‘hot’ or ‘cold,’ using the analogy of the children’s game,” Cole said.
About 10 percent of law enforcement patrol cars in Colorado are equipped with LoJack systems.
Cole said they are installed free of charge in law enforcement vehicles. He said the tracking device can only be turned on by law enforcement and is only used if a car is stolen or in “extraordinary circumstances,” like an Amber Alert.
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Categories: police
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