Auto theft costs all of us. It leads to higher insurance premiums and a tarnished reputation for our region. Piecing together a solution will take creativity and money. Crime Tracker 3's Sophia Choi takes a look at the Auto Theft Puzzle.
This year, Metro cut auto theft in its jurisdiction by 30 percent. But to do more will take more money. And just like solving a real puzzle, Nevada can look at her neighbors to get a clue.
"I didn't even hear it start. And my bedroom is right there," car theft victim Teri Cannavo explained to Crime Tracker 3.
A phone call alerted Cannavo to a crime which was committed in her own driveway. "So I flew out of bed, looked out, it was gone," Cannavo continued.
Her 2005 Ram 1500 was gone in a blink; one of the 8,900 automobiles stolen so far this year in Clark County. "Two of the guys I know at work, their trucks were both stolen," Cannavo said. "My dad's boss, a friend of ours from the racetrack, mine - there's five in the last year, just that I know of. So there's tons of people."
"It really is on the move now. I mean, you can't just the inner cities, you can't just say the real nice neighborhoods. It moves around continuously," said Lieutenant Robert Duvall with Metro's Auto Theft VIPER Task Force. "That's why we look at these stats every single week."
Those stats tell him what's being stolen and where to set up traps. Metro uses a bait car to catch criminals in the act. Bait cars nabbed 155 car thieves last year. 90 percent of those people were convicted of felonies.
Bait cars clearly work, but Metro officers want more. That includes of wish list of tools which are too expensive to fit into the police budget.
"When I moved here from Utah and my insurance went up over $100 than what I was paying in Utah a month, I figured there was something wrong," Cannavo said.
In response to Nevada's alarming car theft statistics, Governor Jim Gibbons said this:
We know that's impacting families we know the insurance costs the thefts create for families. Premium costs of 300 bucks a year. We have to do something significant. We have to take action.
California and Arizona already took action, creating auto theft authorities. They focus on fighting the bad guys with unconventional tools such as special prosecutors and attention-grabbing ads.
"State with auto theft authority outperformed those states without five to one," Enrique Cantu with Arizona's Auto Theft Authority told Crime Tracker 3.
So why can't Nevada solve this auto theft puzzle? We have police officers ready to roll. We have a government looking for solutions. What is missing in Nevada is money.
In nine California counties, it's an extra dollar for each car registered. In Arizona, it's 50 cents for every car insured. It adds up to millions of dollars a year. Financial power turns to police pressure, forcing thieves to go someplace else.
"We've got strict prosecution and strict enforcement in the states that surround us, and again, if you think about where we are on the map - right in the middle of Las Vegas, Nevada," said Duvall.
The governor's task force spent months looking for solutions. Teri Cannavo had her answer right away.
Sophia: Would you be willing to pay a dollar a year to help the police crack down on car thieves?
Cannavo: Well, if I knew that it was a program that would actually go towards that, yeah.
Metro's VIPER Task Force won an award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The commendation notes that bait car program and Metro's push for legislative solutions to the auto theft puzzle.
Some police administrators are in favor of the plan. The governor's Auto Theft and Insurance Task Force was supposed to issue its report by November 1. We called the governor's office about it, but so far have received no response.
Creating an auto theft authority and a tax or fee to pay for it would take legislative action. And so far, there's no sign of that coming out of Carson City.
