CHICAGO — The Cook County Sheriff’s Office is giving residents a way to track their car if it gets stolen.
Car owners can now sign an online consent form allowing authorities to access tracking data from car manufacturers if their car is reported stolen, according to the office’s website.
Most cars made after 2015 have some tracking capabilities, but the police cannot use them without the authorization from the owner, Sheriff Tom Dart said at an October news conference. And some car makers withhold location data after carjackings, making it difficult for the police to find them, Dart said.
Signed consent forms will speed up access to real-time vehicle location data, Dart said.
“When we track cars, we recover them quickly, and we have the ability to stop future crimes,” Dart said.
Residents who fill out the form will be mailed two stickers that say “tracked vehicle,” in hopes they can ward off would-be robbers.
Chicago and the surrounding suburbs lead the nation in carjackings, the Sun-Times reported last month.