Car thieves suspected of stealing vehicles from Aurora, Denver, and Colorado Springs were caught in Douglas County over a span of twenty-four hours.
The Douglas County Sheriff, Darren Weekly, provided the following statement: “We’re identifying people in these stolen cars and were going after them and were stopping them and were making arrests,”
Since the previous year, the number of thefts that originate in the county has decreased by 27%, while the number of cars that evade police has decreased by 44%.
According to Weekly, “Douglas County is an anomaly. Motor vehicle theft is going down in our county and I think a big part of that is our approach to catching criminals,”
License plate readers are an important component of the strategy that the police employs.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office makes three car theft arrests in 24 hour period in Colorado:
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office makes three car theft arrests in 24 hour period in Colorado https://t.co/t4BiWXfc9C pic.twitter.com/mN7l1f7Vb1
— CBSColorado (@CBSNewsColorado) December 13, 2023
They are installed on major roads and in every patrol car, and they are designed to send an alert automatically whenever a license plate that has been associated with a crime passes by.
“Those license plate readers are also good to identify sex offenders, to identify vehicles associated with arrest warrants and stuff like that. So it’s a game changer for law enforcement and it’s proven to be very useful,” said Weekly.
Several of the thefts, according to the sheriff, originate from other jurisdictions and include other types of criminal activity.
“It isn’t just a stolen car, there’s a lot of other crimes that are associated. Stolen credit cards, evidence of property crimes things like that, illegal drugs,” said Weekly.
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According to him, the more measures that everyone takes, the fewer the criminals that the police will have to continue to pursue.
“We have a lower crime rate in Douglas County, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have crime. If people just lock their doors and lock their windows, we’d have a lot less crime in Douglas County,” said Weekly.
On cold days, it may be tempting to start your car and leave it unattended in your driveway, but you should avoid doing so.
In addition to locking your car and removing your valuables, you should also avoid starting your automobile.