The Orange County Auto Theft Investigators (OCATI) Association meets on the first Thursday of each month, unless it is a holiday or some special circumstance, at 10:00 a.m. 

The meetings are for auto theft detectives, insurance company special investigation agents, vehicle leasing loss prevention agents, and other people involved in the investigation, recovery and prevention of vehicle thefts.  Investigators from inside and outside Orange County attend the meetings to share information about current cases, suspects and auto theft trends.

There is a $5.00 fee per meeting. ($10.00 for December) 

The February Meeting will be held at the CHP Border Division Katella Facility in Orange. Please see information and map link at bottom of page.

The winning design was submitted by Tim Jackson. Tim said he would have to give all the credit to his brother who came up with the design. It is unknown if Tim shared the "winner's" prize with his brother. The new OCATI logo is now appearing on this page, as well as on the OCATI on Facebook page and Twitter page.

At the January 2012 OCATI Meeting, Tony Ko, Toyota / Lexus Financial Fraud Unit, gave a presentation on Vehicle Finance Fraud.  There were also representatives from Honda and Hyundai, who are part of the Auto Finance Fraud Association set up to combat the fraud that is plaguing the industry.  Tony went over several different "schemes" that are being perpetrated against the auto finance industry.  It was obvious that the best way of combating these crimes is by networking and training.

At the October 2011 OCATI Meeting, OCATT / CHP Lieutenant / Task Force Commander Ed Michalkiewicz gave the attendees an update on the Orange County Auto Theft Task Force (OCATT) which is now in its 18th year of operation.  Ed explained to the attendees what OCATT did to identify and prosecute vehicle theft suspects in Orange County.  Ed also spoke about the current staffing of OCATT.  Ed handed out two quarterly reports to the attendees which explained some of the cases worked by OCATT personnel (the encrypted reports can be located here).  Ed also spoke about current trends in vehicle thefts and theft of vehicle parts.

At the September 2011 OCATI Meeting, Long Beach Police Sergeant Jim Williams and Detective Joe Starbird gave a presentation on how thieves are breaking into GM vehicles to steal the third row seats or to steal the vehicles.  Attendees viewed several surveillance videos as well as a slide presentation.  It was very enlightening to see how quickly this can be done.
 
 
 

At the August 2011 OCATI Meeting, NICB Special Agent Mark Winter gave a presentation on the ISO Claimsearch Database.  Mark also gave a presentation on the use of social networking for investigations.
 
 
 
 

At the June 2011 OCATI Meeting, Tim Staab, Glendora PD / Delta Analysis, gave a presentation on Auto Fraud and Staged Traffic Collisions.  The presentation also covered "Black Box" technology.
 
 
 
 

At the April 2011 OCATI Meeting, Dennis Frias, OCRA / Consolidated Fraud Group, gave a presentation on Private License Plate Reader (LPR) databases.  This covered systems that are available to law enforcement, as well as the private sector.
 
 

At the November OCATI meeting, Tom Seroogy of Advanced Technologies & Forensics, Inc gave a presentation on ignition / door lock forensics.  Tom's presentation included examples of sophisticated tools available to the forensic locksmith personnel as well as how auto thieves may be acquiring the same tools.
 

At the October OCATI meeting, Infinity Insurance SIU Investigator Heather Roberts gave a presentation on Classic Car Theft Investigation.  Heather has an extensive background in classic cars and drag racing.  Her presentation gave a lot of information that both law enforcement and insurance SIU personnel can use in their investigations.
 
 

At the March OCATI meeting, former CHP Sergeant Dennis Frias gave a presentation about his new employer, Consolidated Fraud Group, a company dealing with financial fraud prevention and detection.  This company works with financial companies with fraudulent credit applications.  Dennis also said he was working with (OCRA) Oficina Coordinadora de Riesgos Asegurados, S.C. in trying to locate and recover Mexican stolen vehicles that have been brought into the United States.  Also providing training at the March OCATI meeting was Mike Bender (former Simi Valley PD Detective/NICB Agent), owner of Bender Enterprises (www.vintrack.com) which specializes in stolen vehicle detection. Mike gave a presentation on new methods thieves are using to steal cars.

Greg Lary from Federal Signal/PIPS Technology gave a presentation on their LPR system, "Back Office Server Software" (BOSS), and data sharing at the November OCATI meeting.
 
 
 

DMV Investigator John Bartolone gave a presentation on “Registration Classification Codes” pertaining to titling and registration and other DMV documentation topics at the September OCATI Meeting.

Brea Police Detective Chris Wood gave a presentation on how GM products are being broken into and stolen at the June OCATI Meeting.
 
 

Mike Bender (former Simi Valley PD Detective/NICB Agent), owner of Bender Enterprises (www.vintrack.com) which specializes in stolen vehicle detection, gave a presentation on Forensic Vehicle Identification at the April OCATI Meeting.
 
 
 
 

Orange County Fire Authority Captain Bret Russell, arson investigator, gave a training presentation on vehicle arson at the November meeting.

CHP Sergeant Dennis Frias gave a training presentation on the FEAR Team (Foreign Export And Recovery Team) at the August meeting.

Tustin Police Detective Dave Welde gave a training presentation on Fraudulent Application cases at the May meeting. 

Santa Ana Police Department Forensics Services Supervisor Heather Heider gave a training presentation at the March meeting on the expanded use of DNA collection, especially related to recovered stolen vehicles.
 

If you wish to be placed on an email mailing list for notifications/reminders regarding the OCATI meetings, please contact the Webmaster with your name, agency, and email address.

The OCATI Roster is available to OCATI members as an Adobe .pdf download from the website. The roster consists of OCATI meeting attendees. The roster is a password protected .pdf file, about 53 kb in size (last updated 020212). The password was last given to the attendees at the 02/02/12 meeting. If you do not know the password or wish to have your information updated on the roster, please contact the Webmaster with your name, agency, telephone number, and email address. Click here to go to the roster.