Feb-March 2003

In its first six months of operation, the Eurowatch remote vehicle monitoring system was used to combat international crime in Sweden, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. Goods worth more than £2 million were recovered by police, including mobile phones, cigarettes and luxury foods, as well as vehicles. In one incident, says Eurowatch, two criminals were caught by police in Spain after a high-speed chase from Marseilles.

In Italy the company has helped police monitor lorry hijacks, identifying where and how foreign trucks were being attacked as they travelled through Italy. Ultimately this led to 38 arrests.

Nineteen countries now have Eurowatch coverage. The service works through a central Web site and has a network of police-accredited service providers. In the UK it is Securi-Guard, which has over 1,600 vehicles registered with the service. A major benefit for users is the ability to send vehicle position data to police forces in any of the countries in the scheme, enabling them to respond more effectively to incidents.