So there i was at work when i get a phone call from an unfamiliar number, i go to answer it and the person introduced himself as a police officer in the auto theft department.

He said he wanted to ask me a couple questions about my 2001 ITR, more specifically about my 01 cdn spec red interior. I was confused at first because i've owned 2 01 cdn ITRs so i wasn't sure which one he was talking about. My first one i sold with complete interior, the second one i bought without it.

So he goes to tell me that an owner of a 97 ITR was involved in a hit and run accident, he made and insurance claim and when the vehicle was in for inspection, they noticed that it had 01 spec red interior and other items that didn't look right. They ran the VIN on the motor and it came up as stolen. They then called the police and from there they seized the vehicle from the owner.

When they called me is that they were trying to located the orignal owner of the interior and determine if it was stolen. They narrowed it down to a specific vin range with me and another R, the other one had been stolen a some time ago.

Some interesting facts i learned from my conversation with him.

They are still actively going to car shows, track days, street legal drag events and checking out swapped hondas and taking note of engine block codes, and running them later to see if they come up stolen.

They actively have an ITR as a bait car, Where i'm from they rig cars and when theives steal them they get busted.

Of the more recent ITR thefts, its been because owners have given them up to be chopped.

So a month goes by and i dont think nothing of it, until i'm reading the news and they are doing a special series on auto theft and i see a picture of a stripped ITR.... and i'm like WTF, this is the police officer that called me..



so there you have it, there is a theft among us. Too bad its a 97. Anyone get there car jacked by the police lately? i wonder if there a member here?

 

So after all of this you find that it's a good idea to post exactly what the police are doing to prevent theft and give a heads up to the thieves?

 

Very interesting.

 

I wouldn't post the stuff you learned. I do appreciate the reason you posted but in the end it's better to keep info like that away from thieves.

 

wow,

 

Thieves know about bait cars, it's no secret. I'd prefer that they knew that there was an ITR bait car out there. Maybe they'll think twice about stealing it. Same with the fact that cops are active at car shows and drags taking notes. Good to know as well.

To be honest I thought Honda theft, well tuner car theft in general I guess, was dead here.

 

Why the hell would anyone post this kind of info, beyond stupid.

 

mmmm iOS7

 

Well it's good to know cops in Canada care.

 

absolutely nothing stupid in the op's post....rather the opposite.

wake up people! as white rocket said, you think they don't know already that cops use bait cars and go to car shows?!? either you don't know sh** about how they catch them or you 've been livin' under a rock for 10+ years, hell they've even did tv shows on Discovery Channel showing just that!

The reason they use ITR's as baits is that they are still very popular among theives circles and it leads to some of the most important networks around in North America.

And you know what, they use ITR's as baits pretty much all over in Canada now and in some parts of the US now.

Just be grateful that our cars serve at baits, it's a major deterrant and the more thieves they catch with ITR's, the more the word will spread, the more they will turn to other options, period.

 

There was nothing in my initial post that would make anyones car more susceptible to being stolen. Nothing i stated is any new cutting edge policing strategy to prevent auto theft.

Man you guys are super paranoid , hahah

2 points of interested that lead me to post this is

1- After 10 years since the last R was made, Its reassuring to know that they are still taking R theft seriously and using 1 as a bait car. I know now that word is out that they have one as a bait car any thief will think twice about trying to steal one. Same with going to car related events and taking notes, its a good thing to know that there still looking out for stolen motors so they will think twice about running a hot motor.

2-I'm surprised no one wants to talk about the 97 ITR rebuilt with stolen parts. Even R owners can be thiefs too.

I've had my owned and ITR for 8 years, daily drove my swapped EG hatch for 13, i've never had either of them stolen.

Keep your rides safe

 

I'd like to know more info on this. There are only a few local '97's that I know of. The one in the pic does not look familiar though.

 

niceee!!

 

That is my buddy's old ITR. He bought the car with all the stolen parts on it, not knowing they were stolen of course.

 

So what ended up happening for him? total loss?

 

After 7 months of going back and forth they gave him the car back with the interior stripped and front end smashed in.