Car theft fall sharply in 2010 - though there are major "hot spots in California, experts warn.
Maybe it’s the video game craze? You’re certainly less likely to get busted for stealing a car in Grand Theft Auto. A nationwide crackdown is getting at least some of the credit for what appeared to be a 7.2% decline in car thefts last year. The preliminary number, if it holds, would mark the seventh annual decline in a row and mark the lowest level of car thefts since 1967.
The West Coast remains a hotbed for car thieves, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, which found that the Los Angeles suburb of Fresno saw the relatively rare increase in car thefts in 2010, which launched it from fifth to first among the urban regions NICB tracks.
Other Left Coast hot spots included Sacramento, Spokane and San Francisco – Oakland, the insurance trade group reported. California had eight of the Top 10 areas for car theft in 2010.
At the same time, Los Angeles was one of the many cities to report a decline in car thefts, along with the New York region, Dallas, Detroit and Miami.
Of the 366 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSAs, tracked, the lowest rate of theft was once again recorded in State College, PA, which counted just 46 last year, or 30 per 100,000 residents.
“Overall, the news is good,” said an NICB report. “If the trend continues, when the final numbers are in from the FBI, 2010 could show the lowest number of thefts since 1967.”
Crime, in general, has been going down in recent years, and part of that has been due to greater enforcement efforts. In Dallas, for example, police have been running stings, leaving “bait” cars in areas where car theft has been a particular problem – often with keys in the ignition.
On the other hand, some West Coast communities, like Fresno, have been hampered by budget problems and over-crowded jails. An official in the community noted that it is common for car thieves to be released after their bookings – only to be re-arrested within the week.
Automakers are also getting some of the credit for the lower theft rate, according to Mike Buchanan, NICB supervisory agent in Chicago.
“Vehicle manufacturers have been evolving their technologies with new, innovative anti-theft devices they’re placing on their vehicles,” he noted, while also working with authorities to maximize the effect.
General Motors’ OnStar system, for example, can help authorities track the movements of a stolen vehicle and even disable its engine to make it easier for police to pull the thief to a stop.
The NICB also recommends motorists equip their vehicles with various anti-theft devices, such as the LoJack tracking system and Ravelco engine disabler.
California has a huge market for stolen cars and also has a huge illegal immigration problem that supplies this cause. Seems that California’s sanctuary cities are doing what they intended to do………break down the economic and insurance systems in California. Good luck California!
Hi, Tater,
I’d be curious to see some data behind your typically politically motivated comments. Is there anything that validates your implied claim that the increasing car thefts in cities like Fresno are, in fact, being committed by illegals? And what about markets like Tucson and Phoenix, or even New York, where there are also plenty of illegals — and a declining rate of car thefts?
Please enlighten us with data. Without that this might be confused for a racist rant and we wouldn’t want that if you are correct.
Paul A. Eisenstein
Publisher, TheDetroitBureau.com
Plenty more:
http://www.phillipslaw.org/illegal-immigrants-car-theft-ring-busted/
But Tater, Phoenix thefts went down last year.
Paul E.
But Paulie, border crossings went down also. The big theft rings have expanded are pushing vehicles to overseas markets.
The number of illegals in the U.S. has only dropped slightly and the criminals are usually the last out, Tater. I don’t disagree that there are rings involving illegals. And that goes for Hispanics, Russians and others. Often, you see that around the world, not just in the U.S. But to broadly tar the greater Hispanic community is pushing things. You could probably force out 99% and find you didn’t reach the criminal base. The same would be true for almost any ethnic group, particularly among illegals. What you’re implying is that, by nature, Hispanics are prone to higher crimes, such as car theft. You’re just dancing around coming out in a more blunt manner.
And crime in any community will reflect both the broader ethnic make-up and particularly the ethnic make-up of the lower socio-economic core. In a city with the poverty rates of Detroit and a 90% black population one would be hard-pressed to assume that middle-class whites were coming into the inner city to steal cars in any large numbers — though they might be the ringleaders.
In a Fresno and some other Hispanic-dominant communities, the same would be true. Complicate matters by the facts that 1) the budget for law enforcement and jails can’t keep up and 2) the career criminals are released and doing the same thing days after their earlier arrests.
Now further complicate things by making it difficult for illegals to actually live and work and you will, de facto, to have to live underground. Perfect recipe to promote crime. What’s there to lose?
Be clear, I am not trying to weigh in on the illegal immigrant debate; that’s not the place of this website. But even with spot news coverage of a gang of illegals robbing cars you are not producing the sort of evidence and data that turns an anecdote into a trend, never mind a broader truth. We as journalists know (or should know) that while an anecdote may be useful to illustrate a story (crazy gunman in gun-crazed Arizona shoots Congresswoman) that is not the same thing as having the statistics and analysis to prove the point. Your citations are effectively no more than the right wing equivalent of lefties citing individual gun stories to justify banning guns. (Are you comfortable with those arguments, Tater?)
Give me the federal data or insurance industry data that show that illegals are, in fact a major force in car theft, not involved in a ring here or a ring there. Then make it clear through demographics that the numbers are anywhere out of whack with the problem involving other ethnic groups, ie blacks, Eastern Europeans, Canadians or hillbilly whites named Paulie or Tater.
Paul E.