Some Results Seen; Critics Say More Steps Needed
By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 5, 2005
If you live in Prince George's County, chances are that you know someone who has walked outside a home or workplace to find an empty space where a car had been. Perhaps that person was you. If so, you've got company, and plenty of it.
More than half of the vehicles stolen in Maryland are taken in this county, and they're being stolen faster than one every half-hour, according to police data.
At a time when vehicle theft is decreasing across the Washington region, including in Montgomery County and the District, Prince George's has seen the number of vehicle thefts nearly double since 2000, according to the Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council.
In fact, there were more car thefts reported in Prince George's last year than in the all of Virginia. Nearly 18,500 cars were stolen in the county, compared with about 17,300 in Virginia.
"There is so much auto theft it has become an epidemic," said Capt. Russell San Felice, commander of the violent crime task force for the Prince George's police, which includes car thefts.
In addition, carjackings -- in which a car is forcibly taken from a person -- have also increased sharply in Prince George's. More than half of all carjackings in the state occur here. There were 563 carjackings in Prince George's last year, compared with 492 elsewhere in Maryland.
County and law enforcement officials are not blind to the problem. In recent months, they've stepped up efforts to reduce auto theft and carjackings, creating an auto theft task force and urging people not to leave their keys in the ignition when they're away from the car. So far this year, the county has seen a 16.6 percent reduction in auto thefts compared with the same period last year -- 4,280 cars have been taken this year; 5,134 were taken last year. The theft numbers surpass those for the entire year in almost every other county and city in the state.
Vehicles are stolen for a variety of reasons, law enforcement officials say. Some are taken by kids who want to joy ride, others by criminals who want a vehicle to commit a robbery. Still others are sold for parts or exported to other countries for resale. The makes stolen most frequently, in descending order, are the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Dodge Caravan, Chevrolet Caprice and Dodge Stratus. Officials say the ignition switches on those cars are the easiest to manipulate.
County Executive Jack B. Johnson last week lauded the police department for the 16.6 percent decrease. But the county has been criticized by some for not doing more to combat the problem.
Last year, 284 people were charged with car theft in the county, an arrest rate of 1.5 percent. "From our standpoint, there's no accountability in Prince George's County," said W. Ray Presley, executive director of the Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council, which tracks auto thefts across the state. "You can set up shop and nobody is going to bother you."
Presley said that nearby jurisdictions in recent years have made major efforts to fight car theft, while Prince George's hasn't dedicated as many resources. The result, he said, is that the county has become more attractive to criminals looking to steal vehicles.
"When you have a county or a city putting pressure on vehicle thefts, where do the criminals go?" Presley said. "Like water, the path of least resistance."
Police officials say the reason the arrest numbers are so low is that until fairly recently, they did not have resources dedicated adequately to investigate stolen cars. There were 12 officers working on vehicle theft initiatives. "Our efforts were not as focused as we needed to be," said San Felice.
In January, the county established the Auto Vehicle Theft and Vandalism Prevention Task Force, which aims to educate people about car thefts. And last month, it contributed to the expansion of the Washington Area Vehicle Enforcement team, which now has 28 members. The WAVE team, as it is known, investigates auto thefts. Its members come from law enforcement agencies around the region, including the U.S. Marshals Service, District and Montgomery County police, and Maryland State Police.
The team, whose headquarters is in Prince George's, used to have two members from the county and now has 10. "In order to address their auto theft problem, they have to help us with ours," said San Felice, who heads the WAVE team.
Last year, 6,508 of the cars stolen in Prince George's were recovered in the county, and 3,078 cars that were stolen outside the county were found here, according to police data.
Vernon R. Herron, the county's director of public safety and co-chairman of the auto theft task force, said he believes if police can track specific groups of criminals, instances of car thefts will drop significantly.
"You have the same group of people committing these crimes," Herron said. "If our suspicions are true, we are going to put a dent in auto thefts."
Herron attributes the 16.6 percent drop in auto thefts to a campaign that is educating people not to leave their keys in their car while they wait inside for it to warm up, or while they run into a convenience store to grab a cup of coffee on their way to work.
Across the county, an average of about 30 percent of stolen cars are taken while the keys are in the ignition but the driver is nowhere in sight, county police say. As part of the Lock It and Pocket campaign, police have been canvassing neighborhoods on weekday mornings and warning people not to make themselves attractive to car thieves. They will soon begin handing out $55 tickets, which is the penalty for leaving a running car unattended.
"We need to address those citizens that are leaving their keys in their cars," Herron said.
But many others who don't leave their ignition fired up while they're away from the wheel also fall victim to thieves.
Rushern L. Baker III, a former state delegate and a likely Democratic challenger to County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) in next year's election, held a news conference last week to denounce county officials for the high car theft rate. Baker had his burgundy Chevrolet Suburban sport utility vehicle stolen several years ago from his driveway in Cheverly. A critic of the Johnson administration on crime and other issues, Baker said that when his car was taken, he felt violated, but hardly alone.
"It's hard to run into anybody who doesn't know someone who had their car stolen," Baker said. He said the issue of car theft in the county is frustrating, because the problem has been building for several years and police have not seriously addressed it.
"Rather than us being in front of the ball, we're always behind the curve. We're playing catch-up all the time," Baker said. "We know these problems are out there. They are not new issues."
Prince George's State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey has four prosecutors dealing exclusively with car thefts. He and county officials are talking to local judges about establishing an auto theft court. The court would hear a docket only for people charged with stealing cars, in an effort to focus resources and try to make sentencing uniform.
"We want a consistent enforcement message on the street," Ivey said.
Other crime-fighting measures the county is planning include bait cars, which are rigged vehicles planted by police in certain spots. Officers would sit and wait for someone to steal the car, and once the thief is inside, remotely kill the gas and lock the doors before arresting the suspect. Another is the use of "infrared tag readers," which an officer can point at the license plate on a passing vehicle and automatically know whether the car has been reported stolen.
Herron, whose car was taken years ago in Chicago, said he can relate to the inconvenience and angst it causes. He said the county hopes to keep more cars out of the hands of thieves. "We are not proud that a great number of the vehicles stolen in Maryland are stolen here," Herron said. "We are really going to step up enforcement."