I have the military and FBI tracking a kidnap vehicle and I just want to check I am using the correct terminology.
I don't want the vehicle to be trackable so have given it fake plates so any onboard trackable systems related to the license will also be useless.
"We ran the plates and tracked it to a vehicle currently in Chicago. Air Support is not detecting any onboard computer systems or cell phones. We’re visual only."
I mention the fake plates later.
Any advice on terminology used? Apart from visual / traffic camera surveillance is there anything else I need to eliminate as a means of tracking the vehicle?
My thanks for any help!
I've seen lots of cop shows with helicopters tracking vehicles, there are some UK ones that are really good. And there's chase videos up on YouTube from the US, though I think those are mostly filmed from news choppers.
I can't actually remember ever seeing in the UK shows that the helicopter spotter (, the one doing the observing through a camera,) has seen the plate number when they started following the vehicle. If they have actually been able to see the number on the plate during the chase, it's usually because the vehicle is standing still in traffic, and the occupants aren't aware the helicopter is there. Or in cases where the vehicle is travelling on an open road, like a motorway, at a constant rate of speed. -In the UK police use Automatic Number Plate Recognition software in connection with traffic/surveilance cameras. The police helicopters do not use this.
I haven't heard of any cases where a helicopter has lost visual on a car during a chase either, except if they have to land to refuel ( ,and in an operation at the scale you mention there would highly likely be more than one helicopter available, so that would not happen), or the vehicle goes into/under a building.
The helicopter's objective would be to guide the people on the ground, so they would concentrate on updating everyone on where the vehicle is going. If they have a chance at zooming in on the vehicle, they would also give number of occupants and descriptions (if possible).
The cameras on helicopters typically can get a close-up even if the helicopter is a mile away. I've seen them indentify, and describe to police on the ground, people who are not in any way aware the helicopter is tracking them.
Any onboard tracking system in the vehicle would not be in any way connected to the plate. Changing number plates is one of the first things a car thief would do, so if there's a transmitter anywhere on the car it would not be in the number plate.
Also, I'm not sure there exists any system for detecting if there is a cellphone or computer on board a car, even if they are in use. Finding the location of a cellphone is usually done by triangulating several base-stations that the phone can reach, and gives an approximate location, and that only works if the phone is turned on.
In short, if you want the kidnappers to get away, you'll probably have to scrap them being detected in the first place. Or have them switch vehicles before the first vehicle used is located.