Several areas in Washington are known as hotbeds for car thefts, but new statistics suggest Snohomish County is not among them.
A total of 26,684 cars were reported stolen across the state in 2009, according to a yearly report by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
The number is about 15 percent lower than in the previous year, but that still means an average of three vehicles are stolen in Washington every hour, said Karl Newman, president of the nonprofit Northwest Insurance Council.
Some rankings have placed the county near the top of the list in auto thefts around the state. The new numbers combine the county with Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue. As a region, the area scored 37th nationally in auto thefts per capita and was third statewide.
Scott Wagner, a special agent with the National Insurance Crime Bureau, credits the Snohomish County Auto Theft Task Force with the results seen here.
The task force was founded in 2008 with a state grant and recovered dozens of stolen cars last year.
Similar teams are working in other communities to curb car thefts, including the statewide Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority, Wagner said. He hopes they won’t be touched by budget cuts.
“If we lose those task forces, theft is going to go up next year. You’ll see it,” he said.
Car thefts are the country’s top property crime. In Washington alone, car thefts cost more than $180 million last year.
Yakima, which heads the state’s list of places with the most car thefts per capita, also has the sixth-highest rate in the nation.
In Everett, the number of car thefts has been dropping since 2007, Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz said.
To target car thieves, police here have successfully used bait cars, vehicles outfitted as traps and equipped with video surveillance and a tracking device to catch thieves. Stricter penalties for car thieves also have likely served as a deterrent, Goetz said.
Although car thieves often target particular cars, they are opportunists, he said. People can help protect their cars by parking in well-lit areas and making sure all doors are locked and windows rolled up. A car alarm is a good idea. “The flashing light hopefully will deter the thieves,” Goetz said.
To learn more about car theft prevention in Everett, go to www.everettpolice.org and click on Crime Prevention.
Katya Yefimova; 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
Top stolen cars
The top 10 stolen cars in Washington for 2009:
1. 1992 Honda Accord
2. 1995 Honda Civic
3. 1990 Toyota Camry
4. 1995 Acura Integra
5. 1994 Nissan Sentra
6. 1995 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee
7. 1994 Saturn SL
8. 1995 Nissan Pathfinder
9. 1994 Ford Explorer
10. 1993 Dodge Caravan
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