As carjackers continue to target taxis, drivers are slowly making use of Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices to recover their stolen vehicles and at least one city taxi service is taking full advantage of this technology, which is becoming increasingly popular around the world.
Many see the cost as a major deterrent, but affordable systems can be had, with research and the right advice, and in the long run can prevent the stress trying to find a stolen vehicle.
Over the years, there have been numerous carjackings, some of which ended in murder. In some of the cases, the vehicles were recovered hours after in areas such as Le Repentir cemetery, stripped of a number of parts. Taxis are often carjacked either for their parts or to be used in robberies.
Stabroek News spoke with Operations Director at MMC Security Force, Silas Brummell, who said that taxi drivers have “not really jumped” at the initiative which his company first introduced about three years ago.
He said while taxi drivers make up at least half of their clientele, the numbers are still small. However, large companies with numerous vehicles also use these devices.
Brummell, speaking from his Happy Acres, East Coast Demerara office, said that a GPS tracking system is a device that utilizes either satellite or telecommunications infrastructure to give a position of an asset. He explained that the most popular assets that these devices are used with are automobiles – cars and trucks. Asked if it’s something that is popular in Guyana, he responded in the negative opining that this may be because of the cost, noting that the majority of the clients are big industries that own large fleets of vehicles.
“GPS is something that most people should have for assets that are not in your eye sight,” he said, adding that with this device, information is “at the tip of your fingers, if they have moved, if they are still there”.
Asked about successes, Brummell cited a case early last year. He explained that a taxi driver whose car had been stolen visited the office and expressed an interest in a GPS tracking system after he bought a second car. It was fortunate that he did because Brummell said the second car was also targeted by thieves but “he was able to track it down and got it back”.
He said this system is also a good way for persons who rent vehicles to keep track of them. Stabroek News was told of several cases were vehicles were rented to be used within a certain area but ended up in Suriname. He said signals from the devices can be received even if the vehicles are across the border.
A vehicle with GPS can be tracked on a computer and this newspaper had a first hand look at the set up. After the customer makes the purchase, a log in and password is given. It is then up to the customer to decide who would monitor the vehicle/s.
Many vehicles that are now being imported into the country are equipped with a tracking device which is usually a small square object on the dashboard. It can be activated with a local service provider, Brummell said, but the service provider would need to know the brand of the device and what language it is in. “It may send out a code and if we cannot translate it on our programme we wouldn’t know what it is,” he said.
Cost
Brummell explained that a client can purchase a GPS device for as little as $40,000 or for as much as $223,000. Thereafter, a monthly fee of $4,900 has to be paid. These prices are VAT exclusive.
Taxi drivers have not jumped at this, as “it might be a case where the price to get these devices in is not that affordable,” Brummell said. Large companies that have fleets of vehicles get the devices at a cheaper rate.
Stabroek News was shown four models of the GPS, which cost $40,000, $46,000, $90,000 and $223,000.
With the three smaller devices, signals are received via one of the local cellular phone providers and other information such as fuel level, driving history or if the vehicle is overheating are also available. However, at the moment, MMC only offers the positioning/tracking feature.
Brummell explained further that once any of these three devices are in the cellular coverage area, live or real time positions can be obtained. If they are out of range, he said, that data is stored and when they come back into range, one can get those positions as well as the current ones.
According to Brummell, MMC also offers satellite tracking devices which use both the cellular network and the satellite network. Pointing to a much larger device with an antenna connection, he said that it could be used in the interior. “In the interior, it will switch to sending its data via satellite and of course this feature will cost you some more. There is a maximum number of signals per month that you are allowed,” he said.
He said the expensive GPS tracking systems are used mainly by large companies. You can be in the interior and depending on who hosts your site, you can be communicating back home on them. “You can be in the middle of the jungle and be able to communicate,” he said.
Pays off
Brummell said investing in a GPS tracking system whether a taxi driver, a business owner or an ordinary citizen pays off in the long run.
His advise is that all vehicle owners should explore or try to inform themselves about the benefits of this device. “Do not wait until you are faced with that situation of losing a vehicle, not knowing where it is, having persons abusing your vehicles – using it after hours and taking it where it is not suppose to go,” he stressed.
“It is a good idea. While we have not gone the full length of utilizing all the features, it is a tracking device but depending on what a service provider does with it, it becomes more than that,” he said adding from a remote area a customer can use the device to tell if a gate or door was open.
Latchman Rattan, a taxi driver of seven years, said he would now invest in the GPS system after he was carjacked in broad daylight last month.
Rattan, called ‘Naresh,’ of Coldingen, East Coast Demerara, escaped unharmed from the ordeal, which began when he was hired by the two carjackers around midday at Enterprise. Rattan was placed in the trunk of his one-year-old Toyota Premio and later dumped in Bare Root.
It was quick work that led to the carjackers being spotted and after a chase they crashed the car in a trench at Lusignan. The driver managed to escape, while his accomplice was caught.
Rattan, in a brief interview recently, said his car came with a tracking device but he hadn’t “hooked it up”. He opined that had it been activated, his car would have been found sooner and it probably would not have ended up in a trench.
Today he is without a job as the vehicle is too badly damaged to be used. He said that once he gets a new car, installing a GPS tracking system is the first thing he would do. “The car break up. Is $3 million done and I ain’t getting no justice,” he said explaining that the accomplice was charged following the incident but was released on bail, while his accomplice remains on the run. Rattan, the father of a nine-month-old said taxi men are at risk – whether day or night — and as such they not only need to protect themselves but their vehicles.
Another car owner said the device is one he would like to have but the cost is what is hindering him. He said that based on what he was told the devices are hard to maintain.
“Is a good thing because if anything happen to the car, you can track it in real time,” he said adding that this is something that would be important for every car owner.
On board
Meanwhile, the Sheriff Taxi Service is one company that is taking the GPS tracking system seriously. Operations Super-visor, Leroy Williams, told Stabroek News that most of the company’s approximately 90 cars are equipped with the device. He said the company feels it is important for the security of drivers.
Williams said that the company has its “own set up” which allows him to monitor all the cars. “It helps us to keep track or a proper guideline of our drivers. They can’t say when a customer calls that they are on Regent Street and they are down at Stabroek (Market). If a customer calls we can estimate a time as to how long it might take to reach their location because we can use this tracking system to see which car is closer,” he explained.
He said the tracking system came in handy at least twice last year and cited an incident in Sophia where a driver, who was in the area, was able to go to the assistance of another driver in trouble and scare off the carjackers.
Williams advised that all taxi drivers and car owners should get GPS because “it is a very good thing. It also helps the base to control the cars and it is good for the security of the drivers.”
