By Scott Pesznecker
For The Enterprise
EDMONDS – Police are planning new measures to put more car thieves behind bars.
The number of car thefts in the city nearly doubled over the past two years, even as police kept close watch over neighborhoods where the crime was most common, Edmonds property crimes detective Dave Miller said.
Police have used computer-generated maps for years to focus patrols in the hunting and dumping grounds of car thieves. By summer, the department plans to use a bait car and a new street-crimes unit in hopes of curbing thefts.
“If used properly, this would help with car prowlers and auto thieves,” Edmonds Assistant Chief of Police Gerry Gannon said. “We could take a more proactive approach to arresting these people.”
Car theft has never increased this much so quickly, Gannon said.
Last year, 260 vehicles were stolen in the city, up from 146 in 2003 – a 78 percent increase. Also, 174 cars stolen elsewhere were recovered in the city last year, almost triple the number found here two years earlier.
The increases over previous years weren’t nearly as drastic. There were only 132 car thefts in Edmonds in 2002.
“We’ve seen a dramatic increase over the past two years, and our numbers for (last month) don’t show that slowing down,” Miller said.
“It’s an ongoing problem. We’re aware of it,” he said.
Most of the car thefts happen near the southern half of the city along Highway 99 and Edmonds Way. However, most of the people arrested there for car theft live in Snohomish County, Miller said.
The thefts usually happen at night. Cars are often stolen from apartment complexes, he said. Most of them are found with the stereos ripped out.
“They’re stealing the car to commit other crimes, to get them from point A to point B,” Miller said. “The majority of people we’re arresting are meth addicts.”
The new bait car and street crimes unit will give officers more tools to catch car thieves.
Bait cars can be equipped with tracking devices so police can find them if they are stolen. They can also be fitted with silent alarms to alert the cops when someone tries to steal them.
The street crimes unit will be comprised of two officers and a sergeant. It will target car theft, prostitution, drug dealers and other street-level crime, Gannon said.
In the meantime, police will keep doing what they’ve been doing with help from the computer-generated maps.
“They’re just in the area, doing what good street cops do, which is run everything,” Gannon said.
Scott Pesznecker is a reporter for The Herald in Everett.
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