Seattle Area Falls to 16th in US car thefts by Jennifer Sullivan

Seattle area falls to 16th in U.S. car thefts

By Jennifer Sullivan

Note: Ms. Sullivan is a well respected Seattle Times staff reporter


For the first time in more than a decade, the Seattle area has dropped out of the list of top 10 hot spots in the U.S. for car thefts, according to rankings released this week by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

In 2007, the Seattle-Bellevue-Tacoma metropolitan area ranked 16th in the nation. Modesto, Calif., was ranked No. 1, while the Yakima area of Washington state was ninth, according to the rankings, which were based on thefts per capita.

Note: Car theft indeed creates menace in our society!

The Seattle area's change in rank wasn't entirely a surprise. King County police and prosecutors have placed a special emphasis on catching car thieves since 2005. And the city of Seattle, traditionally a hotbed of auto theft, has seen a drop in recent years.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said the county has seen a nearly 55 percent reduction in auto thefts since authorities turned up the heat in 2005.

"We want to keep working until we are no longer in the top 25," Satterberg said of the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) ranking.

According to the NICB, which works with police and insurance companies to provide information about auto-theft prevention, there were 24,516 cars stolen in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area in 2007. There were 31,231 stolen in the region in 2006 and 33,494 in 2005, two years when the area ranked sixth in the U.S. for auto thefts. The nonprofit NICB said it tallied the figures based on information supplied by the FBI, as well as looking at census data reports and ZIP code databases.

Satterberg said that in 2005, King County prosecutors and local police departments compiled a database of the most prolific thieves, and prosecutors sped up the filing of criminal charges against auto thieves.

Around the same time, Western Washington police departments started using every trick they could find to nab crooks.

Note: Authorities needs to find creative ways to get the culprit ASAP!

They purchased license-plate readers — technology that reads as many as 1,000 plates per hour to track stolen cars. Departments also parked "bait cars," ordinary-looking vehicles featuring cameras and kill switches operated by police, in high-traffic areas with the hope that thieves would climb inside and head out for a ride.

In July, state sentencing guidelines for auto theft changed significantly — a third conviction now results in automatic prison time, Satterberg said. Before July, auto theft usually resulted only in jail time.

Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Walt Sowa said police and prosecutors in Snohomish County plan to create an auto-theft task force similar to the one in King County. For several years, Snohomish County has had one prosecutor dedicated to handling auto-theft cases, Sowa said.

According to the NICB, the three most popular stolen vehicles in Washington state in 2005-2006 were the 1991 Honda Accord, 1995 Honda Civic and the 1990 Toyota Camry.

"Anyone who has a Honda between '90 to '98 has probably had it stolen," Sowa said.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com


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