AUTO THEFT PREVENTION

The Baltimore County Police Department has been participating along with Baltimore City Police and the State's Attorney's Office in a grant funded project entitled the Regional Auto Theft Task Force. Part of the mission of the group was to do research on the problem of auto theft, in addition to investigating auto thefts and enhancing arrests, thereby reducing the number of incidents regionally.

Specifically three questions surfaced as needing answers from the research:

• Does the use of an anti-theft device make a vehicle less susceptible to being stolen?
• Is a thief deterred from stealing a car that uses an anti-theft device?
• Is any specific device more effective than the other?
  

FINDINGS:

During the period of study, from June 1 to October 31, 1995 there were 2,411 vehicles reported stolen to the Baltimore County Police Department. Of that number, 930 vehicles were recovered within the same time frame. The results of this study are based upon the physical examination of 739 (79%) of the stolen vehicles that were recovered. The findings are as follows:

Anti-Theft Devices are a deterrent to thieves.
The survey showed that 95% (701) of the recovered stolen vehicles either did not have an anti-theft device, or did not use it. Only 5% (38) of the recovered vehicles were found to have used an anti-theft device which was defeated.

"Kill switches" may be effective and would prevent many vehicle thefts.
72.4% (535) of the vehicles had their ignition defeated, either by pulling out the ignition switch or by breaking the steering column. ( A kill switch is most often a toggle switch hidden in the car which the operator flips when exiting. The switch deactivates the ignition system. Some alarms automatically deactivate the ignition when they are set off.)

Too many owners leave keys in vehicles/engine running.
25% (181) vehicles had keys in the ignition.

Most vehicles were locked.
Physical force was used to defeat 62% of the vehicles in the study. However 38% of the recovered vehicles were unlocked at the time of theft.

CONCLUSION:

Too few car owners use anti-theft devices.

The "CLUB" was the most prevalent anti-theft device present. It was also the least often used device (i.e.: In car not attached). Three important points to note about the club are:

• Its low cost makes it affordable.
• It is one of the few anti-theft devices that is visible to thieves. (Deterrent)
• A device, no matter how sophisticated, cannot be effective if it is not used.
  

It is concluded that the project's goal of determining the effectiveness of various anti-theft devices can only be achieved after the public uses these devices more often.

Therefore,

Lock your car
Take the keys with you
Use an anti-theft device.

From the enforcement standpoint, the Regional Auto Theft Task Force has been effective. The Precinct One area has had over a 10% reduction in auto thefts so far this year.

For a complete copy of the R.A.T.T. study, contact Major Thomas Levering at Pc01, 887-0872.

Further Crime prevention material can be obtained from Officer Charles J. Bury Jr, Wilkens Community Outreach 744-1584.