If a car is stolen in Eugene, it is more likely to be recovered than cars stolen in most other American cities, according to the Eugene Police Department.
EPD announced in a press release late last month that it has nearly a 90 percent recovery rate for stolen vehicles. The number is uniquely high for the West Coast, a region the National Insurance Crime Bureau repeatedly designates as a hot spot for auto theft. According to the NICB, the national average recovery rate, which fluctuates from year to year, is between 60 and 75 percent.
In 2007, cities in the West accounted for 35.7 percent of all auto thefts in the United States, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
What makes EPD successful, spokesperson Melinda Kletzok said, is that EPD officers actively look for stolen vehicles.
“Every day a hot list (of stolen vehicles) is compiled and distributed at police briefings,” Kletzok said. “That means each shift of officers on patrol knows exactly what vehicles to look for.”
EPD keeps track of how many stolen vehicles are found per officer every year. The record was recently broken when a single officer recovered 90 stolen vehicles, Kletzok said.
The high number of recoveries can also be credited to EPD’s volunteer teams, Kletzok said.
“We have one of the best volunteer divisions in the nation,” Kletzok said. “Those volunteers are out there looking for missing vehicles too.”
According to the EPD press release, 655 vehicles out of a total of 747 stolen vehicles were recovered between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, 2008, saving various Eugene vehicle owners more than $2,570,709 million in lost property. In Eugene in 2007, a vehicle was stolen once every eight hours. Nationwide in 2007, a vehicle was stolen every 28.8 seconds, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
However, when a vehicle is recovered, the return condition tends to vary, said Kletzok.
“The quality we get the vehicle back in ranges,” Kletzok said. “Some are trashed, some have had parts removed, and some are just fine and were only stolen for the thrill. It really depends on what type of car was stolen, its value and who stole it.”
According to EPD, one out of seven auto thefts occur because a key was easily accessible.
[email protected]