TC Nighthawks launches with mission to curb rising car thefts

MINNEAPOLIS -- It started with a common sense idea.

"You can track your phone or like your airpods or your headphones, so I was wondering why couldn't you do the same for your car, I guess," said Tanisha Robinson, the daughter of TC Nighthawks founder Lacey Gauthier.

Last summer, Robinson overheard her mom on a Zoom meeting about car thefts, and TC Nighthawks was born.

"It's been insane," said Gauthier. "We started this as something we wanted to help our immediate community -- the Nokomis and Longfellow areas. And it's turned into a state-wide mission now."

Stolen car numbers are rising fast. This year, there have already been 900 more motor vehicle thefts than at this time in 2022. That's an increase of 85%.

"One thing that everyone's concerned was carjacking. People are scared to go to the store in the middle of the day which is unheard of," said Gauthier. "Women are getting attacked. Children are in the backseat of these cars."

TC Nighthawks provides a product -- the GPS tracker.

"When activated there's no alarm and there's no way to alert the criminals that they're being tracked," said Gauthier.

They also provided a service. The organization plans to work with police to locate stolen vehicles fast.

"I was told by a few different policemen that the average response time is 45 minutes to eight hours," said Gauthier. "With our app, we've brought that down to getting the information to police in less than four minutes."

TC Nighthawks also provides drone photography to locate cars, and a towing service to retrieve them.

"It's crazy. We've always had the technology," said Gauthier. "Nobody's just sat down and put together a plan to formulate it."

They say the business plan keeps police safe. This week, will be the first with TC Nighthawks trackers in cars.

"A big company coulda did it and they would have farther outreach than us," said Robinson. "Somebody has to start something to spark a wave."