Car Theft in the United States

Car Theft

7,024 cars were stolen last year in the city of Modesto alone, jumping to 55% more auto theft then 2003. This percentile made Modesto the nation's capitol of car theft. Car theft is a crime that is growing rapidly due to the large payoffs and the ease in stealing cars. I am going to tell the history, current ways of car theft and the future in the fight against car theft.

In January of 1994, AB 813 was passed which provided funding to help and maintain ongoing statewide car theft suppression effort. It is estimated that the direct cost of car theft worldwide is approximately $30 billion annually. It is estimated in the United States at between $12-15 billion annually. The world with a population of 6,372,797,742 at least half of all car thefts happen in the United Stated with a population of 293,027,571. So that comes out to be that 21% of the worlds population lives in America and amazingly half of all car thefts happen here. In the 1950,s the stolen car rate compared to the population was 1 out of every 6,000 peoples cars were stolen each year. The 1960's 1 out of every 4,500 people. The 1970's 1 out of every 3000 people. The 80's 1 out of every 1500 people. The 90's was 1 out of every 900 people. And now today which is amazingly 1 out of every 127 people. As you can see the crime of car theft in America is growing faster then it can be stopped. A study done by the University of the Pacific showed that 21% of all daily drivers do not lock there car doors when traveling. And 34% of all college students do not lock there doors or take any measures in grand theft auto. And then High School students were tallied showing that 45% do not lock their doors. These cars are the top ten cars that are stolen in the United States. Honda Accord ranks number one mostly due to its popularity. From that 1,692 cars stolen from in Modesto 690 of them were Honda Accords. Then there is the Toyota Camry, Oldsmobile Cutless, Chevrolet Full Size Pick up, Honda Civic, Toyota Carrola, Jeep Cherokee, Chevrolet Caprice, Ford Taurus and the Chevrolet Cavalier. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) reports that approximately 1.2 million vehicles are stolen in the U.S. every year, or one every 30 seconds. So in comparison with Modesto and its 7,024 car thefts in one year that means that 19 cars were stolen each day in the city of Modesto.

Car theft is a growing crime which has developed into many forms and has made it easier for the average Joe to go out and still a car. One of these ways is "Car Boosting" as seen in the movie "Gone in 60 Seconds" which is the process of stealing many cars in a single run. Another name for this is called "Trafficking" which is the second-most profitable criminal activity behind drug dealing. As you can see trafficking is very profitable and many people have turned this crime into a life style. An average payoff for a 25-car boost is close to 100,000 dollars pending on the quality of the cars, and a 25-car boost can be done in a single night. Most of the cars are shipped overseas where it makes the cars basically disappear. Shipping overseas makes the cars very hard to find due to the lack of car registration laws in other countries. And car boosting has hit the internet. Many tools used to pop locks or short fuse alarm systems are available with a click of a mouse. Many tools can be found on the popular website called E-bay. One of these tools is called a slim Jim (which is a tool that is pushed