Theft of Satellite Navigation from Ambulances

12 January 2007

Yesterday on the news they told of several ambulances that have been taken off the road because their satellite navigation systems have been stolen. Theft is a selfish crime at the best of times, but when that takes an ambulance off the road it is putting lives at risk.

Another thing is that they cannot even use the satellite navigation systems. It's a specific system that is tied into a built in unit in the ambulance, and uses automated dispatch. Effectively they are taking a screen that cannot be used outside of the ambulance. Every time they do the ambulance has to go out of service to have it replaced, and the additional time spent in locating someone in an emergency could be putting lives at risk.