Car thefts on rise in Las Vegas

Stolen vehicle cases in Las Vegas continue to rise in 2022 after a nearly 22 percent jump last year, according to police.

In 2021, the number of stolen vehicles reported to the Metropolitan Police Department rose to 8,723 from 7,168 the previous year. As of the second week of March, Metro had a 12 percent increase in stolen vehicle reports compared with the same time last year, Deputy Chief Jim Seebock said.

“It is concerning for us,” he said. “One of the biggest concerns is the impact on the victims because the targeted cars, the cost of them to replace, it’s significant and life changing. It is not lost on us. We take it very seriously.”

The statistics include carjackings, which are also on the rise in Metro’s jurisdiction. Police have investigated at least 30 more carjackings this year than during the same stretch of 2021, Seebock said.

North Las Vegas police are seeing similar trends. In 2019, 968 vehicle thefts were reported in the city. In 2020, the number jumped to 1,179 cases, a 22 percent increase. In 2021, the number rose to 1,361, an increase of 15 percent.

There were 145 auto thefts reported in February, a 10 percent increase from January’s 132. Those 277 combined auto thefts are a 10 percent increase from the 252 reported in the same period last year, North Las Vegas police spokesman Alexander Cuevas said Monday.

“The department as a whole sees them on a daily basis,” North Las Vegas police officer Joshua Leavitt said as he investigated a stolen van that was towed to the AA Action Towing yard on Tuesday morning. “As an individual officer, I deal with them probably a couple of times a week on average.”

Henderson police did not provide information on vehicle thefts.

Trucks popular targets

Capt. Shane Womack, who oversees Metro’s theft crimes bureau, said the most popular vehicles targeted are the Chevrolet Silverado, the Honda Civic and Accord, Ford F-series pickups and GMC pickups.

“Pretty consistent across the board,” Womack said. “There is more money in the pickups. What we’ve seen a lot recently, especially in Summerlin, is newer vehicles where people leave the keys in it or the key fob in the car.”

But why are auto thefts rising? Womack said a big reason is the increased cost, and value, of vehicles.

“It is a crime across the United States that you are not going to spend a long time in prison for,” Womack said. “It is a property crime, and it is not the most complicated crime to steal an older vehicle, especially if it is for transportation from point A to point B.”

Tully Lehman, spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, said there are a few reasons that stolen vehicle cases are on the rise in many U.S. cities.

“The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact as schools and social services were shut down, there was high unemployment, and a real frustration in society,” he said. “Further complicating matters was the retraction of law enforcement and the removal of some of their budgets. This all combines to impact crime in a negative way.”

In 2021 in Las Vegas, 514 people out of every 100,000 had a vehicle stolen, according to Metro’s report. The online website Insurify, analyzing numbers from the NICB, said the 10 U.S. cities with the highest rates of vehicle theft are all on the West Coast. The city with the highest rate, Bakersfield, California, averages 905 out of every 100,000 residents.

Several people have taken to the Facebook page Southern Nevada Stolen Cars to voice frustration. One person who posted on the page, Josephine Garcillas, said her daughter’s vehicle was stolen this month near Charleston and Hollywood boulevards.

Garcillas said in a message to a reporter that a Las Vegas police officer who responded to the stolen vehicle call at her daughter’s gated apartment complex said five other stolen vehicle calls were reported in the area that same morning. Garcillas subsequently said Wednesday night the car was found crashed and not drivable.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.