DENVER — Times are changing and so are certain crime trends, including the number of vehicle thefts, according to the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
“The overall message for us is Wheat Ridge is back to where it was in 2018-19 for a lot of these different types of crimes,” said Alex Rose, a public information officer for the department.
Rose said fewer cars were reported stolen in 2023 compared to 2022. The department saw auto thefts decrease by nearly 27% in one year.
“We're hopeful that trend continues to go downward,” Rose said.
Rose said department data showed a spike in overall crime during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, crime rates are “getting back to normal.”
“Motor vehicle theft, we dealt with 310 in 2023 and that’s closer to what we saw in 2018,” Rose explained.
Other data on auto theft crime in Wheat Ridge from the agency showed 77 were reported stolen cars in 2020 and 520 were reported stolen in 2021.
“The nature of crime changed in the pandemic,” Rose said.
Rose credits state legislation and the Colorado Metropolitan Auto Theft Taskforce (C-MATT) for supporting this trend in data.
At one point, in the first three months of 2022, C-MATT reported nearly 100 vehicles were stolen each day in the Denver metro area.
“Generally speaking, Colorado, the Denver Metro area, we saw a lot of issues in 2022 with motor vehicle theft and now everybody is trying to swing the pendulum and crack down harder on that,” Rose said. “I think C-MATT is the biggest driver in that."
According to C-MATT, there has been a 30% decrease in stolen vehicles since the start of 2024, compared to 2023.
The Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority (CATPA) also noted a general decrease in stolen vehicles in the state between 2022 and 2023.
CATPA said there was a 21% decrease, representing nearly 10,000 fewer stolen vehicles across Colorado.
Rose said getting ahead of stolen vehicles can help the department get in front of other criminal activity.
“A lot of times when we're dealing with a single crime whether a theft or burglary or robbery, chances are we're dealing with a stolen vehicle,” Rose said.
Rose said the department has seen an increase in other crimes compared to previous years. He noted drug-related calls, burglaries and thefts all increased between 2022 and 2023.
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