View of the nativity scene at Saint Ambrose Church in Old Bridge. Officials at the
church have ordered a GPS unit to be placed in the baby Jesus. Churches around the
country have been putting GPS units in their baby Jesus so they can be tracked in the
event of theft.
1. A certain episode of "Dragnet," where a little Mexican kid steals the baby Jesus on Christmas.
2. A certain scene in "Diner" where Kevin Bacon's character sits in place of the baby Jesus.
Jesus Lo-Jack!
What? No 220v?
Why are you posting this now?
if it were me, I’d cover baby Jesus in habanero powder...let the fire consume his thieves...if they rub their eyes with their hands after stealing him, well...they probably would think twice before trying it next time...
Fooling the thieves. Hahaha!
When baby Jesus disappeared last year from a Nativity scene on the lawn of the Wellington, Fla., community center, village officials didn't follow a star to locate him.
A Global Positioning System device mounted inside the life-size ceramic figurine led sheriff's deputies to a nearby apartment, where it was found face-down on the carpet. An 18-year-old woman was arrested in the theft. Giving up on old-fashioned padlocks and trust, a number of churches, synagogues, governments and ordinary citizens are turning to technology to protect holiday displays from pranks or prejudice.About 70 churches and synagogues eager to avoid the December police blotter jumped at a security company's offer of free use of GPS units and hidden cameras this month to guard their mangers and menorahs.
Others, like the Herrera family of North Richland Hills, Texas, took matters into their own hands. Upset after their teeter-totter was stolen, the family trained surveillance cameras on their yard and was surprised when footage showed a teenage girl stealing a baby Jesus worth almost $500. Police have obtained the tape. "They took the family Jesus," said Gloria Herrera, 48, a Catholic. "How can anybody do that?"For two consecutive years, thieves made off with the baby Jesus figurine in Wellington, a well-off village of 60,000 in Palm Beach County, Fla. The ceramic original, donated by a local merchant, was made in Italy and worth about $1,800, said John Bonde, Wellington's director of operations.
So last year, officials took a GPS unit normally used to track the application of mosquito spray and implanted it in the latest replacement figurine. After that one disappeared, sheriff's deputies quickly tracked it down. Sensing opportunity in that kind of success story, New York-based BrickHouse Security is offering up to 200 non-profit religious institutions a free month's use of security cameras and Lightning GPS products it distributes.Chief Executive Officer Todd Morris said the idea was born after a few churches asked about one-month rentals instead of longer contracts that are the norm. The first 20 or so applications came from synagogues, he said.
Rabbi Yochonon Goldman of Lubavitch of Center City, a Philadelphia-area branch of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, signed up even though his previous biggest scare involved the wind knocking down a menorah. "People are very security conscious, and this is simply a precaution," said Goldman, who will put a GPS unit on one menorah and a camera on another. "It's sad … but it's the reality we're faced with."As members of a minority religion, Jews are probably hit harder when their religious symbols are vandalized, said Deborah Lauter, national civil rights director for the Anti-Defamation League.
"If baby Jesus is removed, it tends to be seen as a prank," Lauter said. "Vandalism or theft of a menorah is just more sensitive. You feel like you're really being targeted for your religion." The ADL identified 699 incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism in 2007, consistent with recent years.