Car recovery initiative for stolen autos in Aurora

Photo byJD WeiheronUnsplash

An Aurora City Council committee discussed Thursday a new Aurora program aimed at helping people retrieve their stolen cars.

The Public Safety, Courts and Civil Service committee heard from Aurora police about MetroTrack. MetroTrack uses a car’s existing GPS, such as OnStar, to locate stolen autos. For cars older than 2015 models, police can hide Apple air tags on the car and track it that way.

Mark Hildebrand of the police department said they never would track a resident’s car without their permission. The tracking program is available to anyone who lives, works, or plays in Aurora, according to police, but the tags would only be available to Aurora residents.

Lakewood and Denver already have similar programs. Car thefts in Aurora are down, according to police, thanks to a tough mandatory minimum jail sentence.

People who participate in the MetroTrack program will receive stickers for their driver’s and passenger side doors explaining the car can be tracked when stolen. Police said their ability to respond to stolen cars may depend on other pending calls.

Fliers explaining the car theft program will be placed in area jails. They will be printed in English and Spanish.

Recouping costs for interpreters, police training

Also Thursday, the committee:

· Discussed requiring defendants who need an interpreter to repay the cost of the interpreter when they fail to appear in municipal court. Schulte said there already is a mechanism to recoup $35 of the cost, which is only a fraction of the expense. Schulte said one failure to appear case had a $900 interpreter bill attached to it. Committee Chair Danielle Jurinsky his office should aggressively pursue recouping that money.

· Discussed requiring police agencies who hire recruits from Aurora’s police academy to pay the cost of the training. Jurinsky said she recently learned that some recruits end up going to mountain communities or Sheridan. She said Schulte’s office should sue agencies that decline to pay.