The robber, the tracker and retrieving stolen items
It is a simple and useful application some of us are ignoring. But a mobile phone tracker would relieve one of sleepless nights when one’s expensive smart phone goes missing or gets stolen.
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There are trackers for vehicles, that can be used to monitor themovements of taxis that parent might hire to drop off and collect their children from school while they are at work.
I had heard people talk about tracking devices but I never could imagine how mobile phone and vehicle tracker devices worked and therefore never found the real need to download the application for my phone or my car.
My curiosity piqued, however, when a fortnight ago, I read about how a supposed notorious robber was arrested by the police at Dansoman, a suburb of Accra, with the aid of the device.
A Daily Graphic publication of February 20, 2015 reported that a 28-year-old robber who allegedly attacked a medical officer’s house and raped his 41-year-old wife was arrested with the aid of a tracking device on a mobile phone.
Tracking application
With the assistance of the tracking application, the police not only traced the suspected robber to the area where he was hiding with his stolen items. They were also able to trace him right to the spot and to the specific room where he was hiding near a popular school in Dansoman. The police were able to retrieve items such as expensive smart phones, iPods, Samsung Galaxy tablet and a laptop from him when he was busted.
Curious to know how the police were right dead on the spot and how the tracker system worked, I spoke with Richard Yaw Adiase, the Business Performance and Solutions Manager at Airtel Ghana who threw more light on how the system works and what other security monitors are available for home security, going forward.
How trackers work
Mr Adiase explained in detail to my simple understanding how trackers worked, supporting his explanation with a short video. It is simply an application which could be downloaded onto any smart phone. Using a Global Positioning System (GPS) the tracker can then locate a missing phone or vehicle from any location.
The good thing is that, even if the chip in the phone is taken out or the phone is switched off, the tracker would still be active because the device is actually installed on the phone itself and not on the chip.
Home security devices
From my search, there are other devices for home security that are available. The Airtel Home Business Unit for example, provides for the home. These include vehicle trackers for either break-ins or stolen vehicles including those that are hijacked.
The devices available can locate a missing vehicle even if it crosses the borders of Ghana. In the case of car hijacking, the tracking application can even cease the engine of the vehicle in which case the hijacker would not be able to move the vehicle.
Of much interest is the tracking device which can solve the headaches of parents whose children are picked up and dropped off by taxis while parents are at work. According to the Airtel Business Performance and Solutions Manager, parents of young children can use this tracker to monitor from the time their children are picked from school till they are dropped off at home.
Trackers on taxis
Showing me a sample of the Tracking Solution Asset Tracker which is used for such purposes, he said the device can last for a week when fully charged. At this point I remembered the tragic case of a two year old boy which I highlighted in this column in 2011.
The little boy was picked up from school by a family taxi driver who the little boy was very familiar with. The driver never dropped the boy off and to date; the sad tale of the boy’s disappearance remains a mystery.
Security consciousness
With so much crime around us, one needs to be security conscious at all times both in and out of the house to be ahead of miscreants. The tracking devices in our system are excellent innovations that we should all invest in.
One miscreant was not so lucky a fortnight ago.A secret phone tracker application gave him away even before he could ‘enjoy’ his booty. Since then, his woes have not stopped. A police identification parade has landed him in deeper waters as five more households have come up to identify him as their attacker using the same modus operandi, thanks to a simple technological device.
