Some time ago (2017), the CAA presented a solution to the ever-increasing rate of vehicle thefts and the enormous cost this imposes on all of society, and that is apart from the huge danger this behaviour creates.

The only reaction was a half-baked pilot that did not work and, in our view, was designed to fail as the then Chief Commissioner had a negative fixation on the CAA, for reasons we have no idea.

The problem of car thefts is not just some kids joyriding, and that would be bad enough, but the thefts are also a key part of the criminal activity in this state.

There is little serious crime undertaken without the involvement of sometimes multiple stolen cars, and the majority are then burnt, costing society millions upon millions, not to mention the hardship on the owner, the other victims.

Reduce access to the mobility offered to criminals by cars and reduce the crime rate.

All these cars, stolen and often driven by inexperienced individuals, pose an unacceptable risk to the Police and the community at large.

The solution is to remove the ability of cars to be a useful tool for crooks and joyriders.

To enable the Police to shut down a stolen vehicle, temporarily, or for that matter any other vehicle involved in a criminal endeavour putting the community in danger, is technically possible, so the reluctance of Victoria Police to embrace this technology is a blight on their sworn duty, preventing crime.

The problem is that implementing a system is complex, but well-managed; it should not be cost-prohibitive to the State.

It can be implemented in stages to spread costs and promote community acceptance.

The concept of a G-Tag was launched by the CAA in 2016 at https://caainc.org.au/the-g-tag-a-new-paradigm-in-community-safety/?doing_wp_cron=1762724424.3639779090881347656250

CAA G-Tag is a proposed community safety initiative by the Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA) for a vehicle tracking and disabling system. The ‘G-Tag’ sticker on a car window identifies that the vehicle can allow police to remotely disable a stolen vehicle, putting it into “limp home mode” to prevent high-speed chases. The proposal includes measures for data privacy, with police as the sole operators and strict security for data storage.

How it would work

• Anti-theft: When a car is stolen, a G-Tag would allow police to track and disable it.
• Remote disabling: The system could initially reduce the vehicle’s speed to 80 KPH and then safely disable the engine.
• Police coordination: The police could use the system to coordinate the interception of a stolen vehicle.
• Privacy safeguards: The system would have built-in safeguards to protect individual privacy, with tracking only on targeted vehicles, data having an expiry date, and strict penalties for unauthorised data release.
• Data security: Data would be encrypted and accessible only to sworn police officers.

Benefits

• Deterring crime: The presence of the sticker could deter thieves from targeting vehicles equipped with the system.
• Reducing evidence destruction: Thieves would have less opportunity to torch the vehicle to destroy forensic evidence.
• Assisting in welfare checks: The system could be used to locate missing persons or overdue travellers to check their welfare.
• The value of this system for National security to deter or intercept terrorists cannot be underestimated.
• Vehicles manufactured offshore could then be managed, should a rogue nation try to use them to breach National Security.

It will take some time to equip the 5 million vehicles in this state, but the cost per vehicle will be a couple of hundred dollars and should be borne by the owner.

Most new vehicles delivered in recent years would have the capacity, and an amendment to the Australian Vehicle Standards would deal with the new vehicles. For the public to take up the initiative, the incentive of the window sticker would help, as would making the G-Tag a necessary part of a vehicle’s roadworthiness. Insurance companies stand to benefit, and negotiating an offer to vehicle owners would be an excellent marketing tool for them and the G-Tag.

Damming figures may be Police Chase Chaos, but doing nothing to address the problem is irresponsible.