Rampant carjackings in Quezon City [merged]

[patron]

My first time to browse this thread, nakaka-praning! I used to live in Scout area and Teachers Village, and now in Proj 8 along Congressional Ave!! Strike 3 yata ako, may bonus pa, nagpapa-gas din ako sa Shell Congressional, talaga naman...... regular gimik area ko din ang Morato... Well, i'm so thankful nothing bad happened to me for the past 8 years that i've lived in these areas, and i pray to God that it will never happen to me. Sad but true, the carjackers are always 10 steps ahead of the police. However, the military-style precision and tactics of these gangs is very evident....just like the bank robbers. It's so hard to trust the authorities nowadays...

[patron]

Lifted from some articles: (pasensiya na kung medyo mahaba, it's nice to know)

"....vehicle theft and related crime continues to be of concern. Ever on the increase, it's a problem that has been plaguing vehicle and fleet owners for the past two decades,...Vehicle crime and its prevention are constantly evolving and the car rental industry is constantly working to overtake these criminal elements!"
Microdot technology is the latest breakthrough in this regard. A process during which thousands of near-invisible dots containing a vehicle's VIN number are sprayed onto strategic parts and areas, it is an effective method of vehicle and component identification.

A significant link in the vehicle theft and hijacking chain is the 'chop-shop' industry where the on-sale of stolen used parts is big business.

"While microdot technology would be of great value in closing this loop in the cycle, vehicle manufacturers and dealers would also stand to benefit from increased sales of legitimate parts."

At less than the cost of a tank of fuel, micro-dotting is surprisingly inexpensive.

To make micro-dotting effective, however, requires critical mass. "We can't have border control posts or policing personnel looking for stolen micro-dotted vehicle and parts, when only a fraction of cars on the road are fitted. Micro-dotting must be introduced to as many vehicles as possible - and fast, There is no better way than on vehicle production lines, a practice which will also give uniformity to the unique vehicle VIN number usage, as opposed to mixing of VIN and PIN numbers which can become confusing to law enforcement personnel.

"We have to challenge vehicle theft syndicates by whatever means possible. Until now, after-market fitment has been the only way to go while the ideal is in-plant. What are we waiting for?"

[patron]

Another one worth reading:

BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE
By Andy Rice

"....Markets create new markets. And once created, these new markets conspire to prevent outside forces from attacking and degenerating them. As with living organisms, survival is paramount, and displaying a kind of Darwinian economics, markets will do whatever it takes to sustain themselves. Nowhere is this more evident than in the markets that have spring up in response to the threat of car theft.
Once upon a time, the average lock on a car door was a pathetic affair, matched only in feebleness by its partners in crimebusting, the steering lock and ignition key. No self-respecting hoodlum expected to take more than a few seconds to get into your car, disable the steering lock, hotwire it and then hotfoot it, leaving just an empty parking space for you to contemplate. And that’s the whole point – your car would most likely be nicked when it was parked, and you were nowhere near to interfere.
As soon as the theft rate reached critical mass, a new market sprang up – for better devices to make the car less easy to liberate – from immobilisers and alarms to flamethrowers and rubber mambas (not to mention the tracking devices designed to help recover the vehicle when all else fails), and for a while the balance of power shifted back in favour of the car owner. But not for long, because the markets must have their say, and an awful lot of people stood to lose an awful lot of business if the car thieves had become terminally outfoxed by technology. And I’m not just talking about the shady characters that head up the stolen car syndicates; many entirely legitimate businesses benefit (even unwittingly) from the forced removal of 125 000 vehicles from their owners every year. If each of these cars were to be replaced by new vehicles, then half of total car sales in this country would be indirectly triggered by our inability to prevent car thefts effectively. Insurance companies, security services, tracking device manufacturers – they all operate in markets sustained at least in part by vehicle theft.
Which is why I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that a new process which makes stolen cars almost valueless to the criminal community has generated responses from the greater automotive industry that range from indifference at best to downright hostility at worst. Developed in Australia (where it has been rather more warmly welcomed), DataDot is a process by which thousands of microdots imprinted with a vehicle’s unique identification number are suspended in a powerful adhesive solution and then sprayed all over the inner workings of the car – inside doors, sills, engine bay, floorpan, everywhere. These dots are invisible to the naked eye but show up under ultraviolet light. The sheer schlep of trying to remove this all-pervasive evidence of the true origins of the car or of its constituent parts offsets any monetary gain that the bad guys might eventually make; the car is simply no longer worth stealing. And it costs a lot less to apply DataDot than to fit a fancy device to track the car once it’s heading for the border under new and unauthorised ownership.
To position a car brand as being of no value to car thieves (I already have a car like that, but for different reasons) would surely be a powerful and differentiating proposition. But when offered the opportunity to apply DataDot as part of the original equipment specifications, manufacturers have responded with all the enthusiasm and energy of Garfield on valium. Call me cynical, but you have to start wondering whether the theft-and-maybe-recovery market isn’t more powerful than the no-theft-at-all market.
So where does my dozy dog come in to the picture? Well, given the above scenario, we have to assume that industry efforts will continue to be directed at improving vehicle security rather than at rendering vehicles valueless to thieves. And this is precisely why carjacking has become so prevalent; the better the security devices installed in the car, the harder it is to steal the car when it’s unattended. The weakest link in the chain has now become the driver, because he/she has the one thing the thief now needs to be sure of success: the car’s keys. And there’s nothing like a loaded gun to speed up the process of separating the keys from their owner - unless of course the two are literally inseparable, because the transponder that opens the doors and activates the ignition is surgically embedded in the driver’s body. In exactly the same way that the faithful Baz has a microchip under his skin that tells the vet where this canine genius started out from before his hormones got him lost in the wilds of darkest Rosebank.
The seamless integration of man and machine that copywriters love to evoke in car advertisements may yet become reality, in a more literal way than anyone might have foreseen.

[patron]

Is Microdot/ Datadot technology ever considered in our country?

[oldblue]

To make micro-dotting effective, however, requires critical mass. "We can't have border control posts or policing personnel looking for stolen micro-dotted vehicle and parts, when only a fraction of cars on the road are fitted. Micro-dotting must be introduced to as many vehicles as possible - and fast, There is no better way than on vehicle production lines, a practice which will also give uniformity to the unique vehicle VIN number usage, as opposed to mixing of VIN and PIN numbers which can become confusing to law enforcement personnel.

come again ... hehehe sa sobrang technical nito, malamang susuko na nga mga corrupt pulis mag-car jack ...

[retinasurgeon]

Have you guys noticed that police visibility at night has been more lately, especially on the QC area. Well, let's hope this stay, and let the law get those b......s!!

[attynorby]

Have you guys noticed that police visibility at night has been more lately, especially on the QC area. Well, let's hope this stay, and let the law get those b......s!!

...kaya daytime na lang nag-ooperate ang mga criminals sa QC... kasi puyat ang mga pulis.

[oldblue]

ako pagpupunta sa QC d na naglilinis ng tsikot

[cesar]

But if you have any security gadgets like TxtALert, at least secured ka na may nagbabantay sa car mo 24/7.This is the advantage na secured ka kahit dimo nakikita yung car mo para kang may sekyu sa sasakyan.

[number001]

Originally by "Chivalry" from pinoydvd

Last Friday night, or September 9, 2005, at around 11-12 pm, we were on our way home.

We just turned into gilmore coming from e.rodriguez when a green Sentra drove up na nagwa-wangwang and shone a spotlight on the driver's side, presumably, to blind me (i was driving) and force me to stop. Then they cut us off and three men armed with m16 rifles came down and carjacked us. They took us somewhere then transferred us to the Sentra. They then took the car, a Honda CRV.

There were four men who took us in the Sentra. They took our ATM cards, credit cards, watches, jewelry and celphones. Even our ID cards. They threatened us that if we didn't give the pin numbers in our accounts, they would kill us. So we gave them our pin numbers and they went around withdrawing our money. They dropped us off in Pasay sometime around 2 am with nothing but the clothes on our back.

We're posting the message to warn everyone not to pass that area and to watch out for these men. Apparently, this is not the first time they have done this. In the past, they shot a woman who tried to escape. So everyone, please take care.

We don't want what happened to us to happen to you. According to the police, Hemady and Gilmore are their favorite haunts but they also wait at the new Katipunan/ Blue Ridge underpass.

Just be careful guys. Its so easy for people to say that I should have done this or that to get away but if you have a loved one in the car and there are guns pointed at you, the options arent as simple as just speeding away and hoping that the carnappers wont open fire on you or that either of you wont get hit if and when they do.

Just be aware of your surroundings and avoid passing streets where few cars pass or are deserted at night.

More importantly, always say a little prayer that the Lord will keep you safe when you are out at night as you never know what bad elements you could encounter, from drunk drivers to armed carnappers.

We are just thankful to God that we were let off safe and unharmed. Im thankful they didnt hurt K (and that I wasnt seriously injured, just a few bruises and scratches).

Thanks and keep us in your prayers.

Benj and K

[number001]

Originally by "patupup" from pinoydvd

grabe na talaga itong carjacking cases, specifically in the QC area. Last week, nagkaron din ng carjacking sa likod mismo ng kalye namin (Caliraya St.) sa Banawe QC. Around 10pm, pag busina niya papasok ng gate nila, bigla lang may humarang na kotse w/ 3 armed men. Not sure, pero balita pinaputukan (warning shot) pa siya sa may paa....

be very careful guys, iba na ang panahon ngayon....

[cesar]

On this situation, bigay mo na lang yung car mo s kanila. Then if u have the device like TxtAlert, immobilize them after a few meters away. Wala na clang time to troubleshoot it. Just track them at once.