Vehicle identification needed from IPCamTalk

[wtimothyholman]

Once again I have a case where I'm trying to identify a car, and I'm hoping that someone can assist. Two catalytic converter thieves hit some cars in my neighborhood last week, including my neighbor's Prius across the street. I provided the video and the license plate of the perps' vehicle to the police, and the incident was even featured on the local news.

When the thieves first struck, the vehicle they were driving was a 2001 Chevy Suburban, which matched the plate. But after the story hit the news, the thieves moved the plate to another car, which my cameras also recorded two nights ago. It looks like another Chevrolet SUV, but I'm not certain if it's a Suburban.

So can anyone provide a positive ID on this new vehicle? Note that they swapped out the passenger side door.

 

[OICU2]

Tahoe (Chevy) or Yukon (GMC)

 

[wtimothyholman]

Here's an image of the vehicle from the recording, which may be useful.

 

[aadje93]

Can't help you with identification of the vehicle, but maybe up the shutter speed a bit for a public road cam, slight motion blur and car doesn't seem to driver that fast

 

[Flintstone61]

those GM SUV's from a distance look very similar. It really doesn't matter that much as long as you can give the police an idea that it's the same or similar vehicle as the first capture. like they said above Yukon, Tahoe, Suburban....not sure how much shorter or longer the Suburban is compared to other SUV's from GMC.

 

[wtimothyholman]

Can't help you with identification of the vehicle, but maybe up the shutter speed a bit for a public road cam, slight motion blur and car doesn't seem to driver that fast

I've been playing around with the shutter speed settings, but the roadway in front of my home is fairly dark with just the illumination of the one streetlight. The image gets too dark at shorter shutter speeds. I keep this particular camera in color mode for identification of clothing / vehicle color. I'm sure I could get less motion blur in B/W mode, but the color info is valuable.

I plan to set up another camera in B/W mode with shorter shutter speeds for nighttime viewing (on my long list of "things to do").

 

[killerdan56]

Looks like it might have a white passenger door, and the rest of the body probably grey color.

 

[wittaj]

Can't help you with identification of the vehicle, but maybe up the shutter speed a bit for a public road cam, slight motion blur and car doesn't seem to driver that fast

Also, keep in mind that is a digital zoom from a wider field of view and based on his settings, it actually isn't too bad and certainly has enough detail for someone that knows vehicles to be able to recognize what type of vehicle it is.

Further, It is really hard to get really clean captures of a moving car at night time. So much light is needed for the shutter speed required. Personally I have found even running infrared B/W didn't produce a clean enough image at night to warrant switching away from color.

 

[killerdan56]

maybe

 

[Steve.L]

...It is really hard to get really clean captures of a moving car at night time. So much light is needed for the shutter speed required. Personally I have found even running infrared B/W didn't produce a clean enough image at night to warrant switching away from color.

This is where LPR really shines: if you can get the general gist of the vehicle, then enter the plate at infotracer and confirm the make/color/year, and try to piece it all together. Stolen plate-swappers notwithstanding. This is how I confirmed my stalker.

License Plate Lookup | Free Scan | InfoTracer

Run a free license plate search with Infotracer. Find out vehicle details such as make, model, year, owner's details, and associated vehicle records!

infotracer.com

 

[wtimothyholman]

maybe

Agreed. So what is the second red vehicle?

 

[Steve.L]

Either a Yukon or a Tahoe, they're virtually identical save for the nameplates and trim packages (GMC vs. Chevy).

Zoom in on the red one, it clearly says YUKON on the door (albeit reversed).

 

[IReallyLikePizza2]

Someone needs LPR!

 

[wittaj]

Someone needs LPR!

He does LOL

 

[wtimothyholman]

Someone needs LPR!

I have LPR. The original vehicle had an Indiana plate that corresponded exactly to the vehicle model the thieves used: a 2001 Chevy Suburban. The vehicle was parked in full view of my cameras when they stole my neighbor's catalytic converter, so there was no doubt about the identification.

But after the theft made the news, and the local station featured footage from my cameras in their story, the thieves switched the Indiana plate to a different vehicle, hence this thread.

 

[wtimothyholman]

Either a Yukon or a Tahoe, they're virtually identical save for the nameplates and trim packages (GMC vs. Chevy).

Zoom in on the red one, it clearly says YUKON on the door (albeit reversed).

Thanks, and much appreciated.