In a ceremony held recently in Columbus, the Ohio Insurance Institute (OII) recognized the state’s highway patrol for the recovery of over 37,600 vehicles worth more than $177 million since the inception of the law enforcement agency’s 30-year old vehicle theft recovery program.
According to the OII, the Ohio Highway Patrol recovered 933 vehicles valued at nearly $19.3 million and made 717 arrests associated with auto theft in 2001.
The highway patrol’s Blue Max “ACE” program focuses on the recovery of stolen vehicles and apprehension of alleged auto thieves. When a state trooper pulls a driver over for a moving violation, the vehicle’s serial number is routinely run through a database to determine ownership. The tracking system information notifies the trooper if the vehicle is reported stolen.
Troopers receive a “lightning bolt” decal to display on their patrol cars for every stolen vehicle recovered. Those receiving five or more bolts in a year are designated as an “ACE.” Each year, the Ohio trooper recovering the most stolen vehicles is honored with the Blue Max award.
For 2001, the Blue Max recipient was Trooper Dana M. Hutton of the Chillicothe post, who recovered 11 stolen vehicles valued at more than $60,000 and apprehended 14 suspects.
The OII named 25 other state troopers as ACE recipients.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Hacker Says AT&T Paid About $400,000 to Erase Sensitive Data 
What Happened to Reinsurance ‘Class of 2023’? Hard Market Defies Age-Old Patterns. 
Marsh McLennan Agency to Acquire The Horton Group 
Damage From Hurricane Beryl May Cost Insurers $2.7B in US, $510M in Caribbean: KCC 
