In a time when crime rates are falling, it is important to consider why the criminal element may be turning to car theft as their “crime of choice.” The answer, according to solid police intelligence, is not what you might think. While professional, commercial car thieves may contribute to the rising trend in auto thefts, the vast majority of car thefts are committed by low level criminals who use the cars for quick transportation and as a means to commit additional crimes. These car thieves steal the cars, drive them around, and then take whatever personal property they can find, including car seats, CDs stereos, and cell phones. After the cars are dumped, it is up to the police to locate and recover the cars so that they can be returned to their owners.

The increase in car theft also can be attributed to the fairly low risk of being caught. Nationally, only about 13.1% of all car thefts are cleared by arrest, according to FBI statistics. In 2003, 461 juveniles and 2,027 adults were arrested for motor vehicle theft in Washington, amounting to a total of only 2,488 arrests. Given the number of cars reported stolen in 2003, a suspect had about a 1 in 16 chance of being arrested for motor vehicle theft in Washington that year.

The chance of being seriously punished is even slimmer. Under current sentencing laws in Washington, it takes five convictions before a juvenile car thief can receive more than 30 days detention. Upon the fifth conviction for auto theft, the juvenile offender receives a sentence of 15 to 36 weeks (3.75 to 9 months). The sentencing range for a first time adult charged with auto theft is 0 to 60 days in jail. It takes seven convictions before an adult auto thief faces a prison sentence. Even then, the 12-month sentence becomes an actual sentence of six months after good time reductions are factored in.

To fight the growing epidemic of auto theft in King County, it is time for the community and the criminal justice system to come together. Citizens and businesses in our community are worried about the severity of this problem and demand action. While legislative changes should be considered to ensure that auto theft laws provide a meaningful deterrent, this problem can not wait for, and will not be solved by, legislative action alone.

Recently, law enforcement in King County has been increasing its efforts to disrupt, interdict, and arrest car thieves – with an emphasis on high-impact, repeat offenders. Patrol officers are out on the streets each day recovering more stolen cars and responding to an increasing number of citizen calls reporting missing cars. In response to the rising number of car thefts, our law enforcement agencies have become creative.

Two law enforcement groups that have persistently drawn attention to the car theft problem are the Western States Auto Theft Investigators and the King County Police Chiefs Association. Both groups have been involved in tracking and sharing information on auto theft with all police agencies in King County for a number of years. For 2005, the King County Police Chiefs Association auto theft committee is being chaired by Kirkland Police Captain Greg Edwards together with King County Sheriff’s Office Chief Scott Somers and Federal Way Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick. This year’s focus for the committee is on working with police agencies to better process stolen vehicle recoveries and to improve crime intelligence sharing on car theft trends and the identification of high-impact car thieves. Renton Police Detective Robert Onishi, a long-time leader in combating auto theft, will head an effort to develop “best practices” for the recovery and processing of stolen vehicles.

In addition, police agencies across the County, such as the Seattle Police Department, the Bellevue Police Department and the Kirkland Police Department have acquired new technology and are adopting new strategies to curb the car thieves. These efforts include:

* “Bait cars” that are outfitted with satellite tracking equipment as well as hidden cameras that film and record car thieves at the wheel of the car. Once a bait car is stolen, police can shut down the engine of the car and lock the thief inside until law enforcement arrives.

* Targeting a “top 10 list” of high-impact, serial offenders for arrest and prosecution. Police intelligence confirms that many of the car thefts are caused by a few high-impact, serial offenders who steal cars at each opportunity. Working with the prosecutor to aggressively investigate and prosecute these offenders takes them out of circulation.

* Using new scanning technology that allows police to immediately scan license plates of cars on the street against a database of stolen vehicle reports. With this technology police can instantly identify stolen cars and speed up their recovery.

* Using crime scene investigation technology to assist in the identification of car thieves. With forensic science technology police can process a recovered vehicle to obtain fingerprints, or, in some cases, DNA, to identify the car thief.

It is now time to join with these law enforcement efforts and to undertake more aggressive prosecution of these cases.