What kinds of strategies have police departments developed to combat auto theft?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Police departments are using several strategies to combat rising auto theft levels:

setting up sting operations—for example, a body shop that buys stolen vehicles
—and using bait cars
providing officers with auto theft training coordinating efforts across jurisdictional lines instituting anti-car theft campaigns increasing penalties for stealing vehicles

To combat auto theft in Atlanta, the Auto Theft Task Force (ATTF) was initiated to target high-risk areas at high-risk times. The approach involved high-visibility uniformed patrol, members making frequent traffic stops, and heavy reliance on field investigative interviews.

To combat the rising auto theft rate at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, airport police took several steps, including increasing the candlepower of parking lot lights; conducting weekly inspections of the lot perimeter to locate access points for thieves (e.g., broken or cut fences); offering monetary rewards to the public for information leading to the arrest of car thieves; securing unused remote entrances; and touring the lots with marked and unmarked patrol cars.

New York City has instituted the Combat Auto Theft (CAT) program, which has been highly successful. Participating car owners sign a form indicating that they do not normally operate their automobiles between 1 A.M. and 5 A.M., the peak auto-theft hours. They also sign a consent form that authorizes the police to stop their vehicle during these hours without probable cause. Owners are given a CAT program decal to affix prominently on the inside of the car's rear window. Officers may stop any car having the decal, without probable cause, if they see it traveling on city streets between 1 A.M. and 5 A.M.

Michigan's Help Eliminate Auto Theft (HEAT) program offers as much as $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and trial of suspected auto-theft-ring members or chop shop operators. The program's toll-free number is answered by the Michigan State Police Criminal Investigation Section.