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. at the CHP Border Division Katella Facility in Orange, CA.

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.

OCATT/Brea PD 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.

OCATT 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.

The meetings are for auto theft detectives, insurance company special investigation agents, vehicle leasing loss prevention agents, and other persons 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) 

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 47 kb in size (030510). The password was last given to the attendees at the 02/04/10 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.