Ranking rankles, thievery down

Modesto area named — again — the national leader in stolen cars

By CHRIS TOGNERI
BEE STAFF WRITER

E-Mail

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

It was with much frustration that Stanislaus County law enforcement officials made a now familiar announcement Friday:

The Modesto area has been named the Car Theft Capital of the country — for the third year in a row — according to statistics compiled the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

The NICB will not release its rankings until Monday, spokesman Frank Scafidi said. He called county officials earlier this week to break the bad news.

"It was like somebody hit you in the stomach," Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden said. "It just takes your strength away."

While the ranking is a blow to the county's collective ego, officials said it does not reflect recent changes that have had an impact on theft rates.

According to statistics compiled by the Stanislaus County Auto Theft Task Force, thefts decreased countywide in four of the past five months of 2005.

The numbers have continued to drop in 2006. Through March, auto thefts were down 27.5 percent countywide, according to StanCATT.

Officials credited the lower rates with increased bail amounts, stiffer jail sentences, aggressive bait car campaigns and increased public awareness — measures that came too late in the year to impact the 2005 ranking.

"A lot of our hard, proactive measures started at the end of the year," Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley said. "It's the ranking that is disappointing. The (recent) numbers are not disappointing. They show the measures we've taken are working."

Improvements aside, the No. 1 ranking remains. And officials said several steps must be taken to lower theft rates. Perhaps most importantly, they said, is fighting the Central Valley's methamphetamine scourge.

"Half of the people arrested for car theft (in the county) have meth in their possession," said Deputy District Attorney David Radford.

Scafidi would not reveal the rest of the Top 10, but said little has changed since last year's rankings.

While auto thefts continued to drop overall nationwide, they again rose in the West, he said.

Five of 10 top spots in valley

California in particular "stands apart from the crowd," Scafidi said: Five of the Top 10 theft hot spots were located in the Central Valley, the same as in 2004 when Modesto was joined by the Stockton-Lodi area, Sacramento, Visalia-Tulare-Porterville and Fresno.

Scafidi said this year's statistics are more accurate than in past years. For the 2004 rankings, the NICB matched up-to-date theft statistics with old census figures, a flawed model that inflated theft rates in areas experiencing rapid growth — such as Stanislaus County — while minimizing theft rates in areas where the population was decreasing. For the 2005 list, the NICB used the most recently updated Census Bureau population figures, from 2004.

In the Modesto statistical area, which encompasses all of Stanislaus County, there were 1,419 vehicle thefts per 100,000 residents last year, Scafidi said. That marked a slight increase from 2004, when the rate was 1,409 vehicle thefts per 100,000 residents.

Officials stressed that despite the embarrassing three-year run atop the rankings, the tide has turned.

But, they added, the stigma of being No. 1 is upsetting.

"Modesto wants to be known as a Tree City, USA, as a community with good school systems, a great place to raise a family … not as the Car Theft Capital of the country," Modesto police spokesman Rick Applegate said. "The officers in this county live in their communities, they raise their families here and take pride in their work. This will be very disappointing to them."

Scafidi said he, too, had been hoping for a different outcome.

"When I saw Modesto came out on top, I had our people pull the stats again — we shook this thing pretty good," Scafidi said. "I know they've been doing a lot of stuff down there. I know they have a real good program with bait cars and enforcement and the DA's office. So I was surprised."

He said he believes the measures officials have implemented are working and guaranteed Stanislaus County will fall in next year's NICB rankings.

"I'll say this: If Modesto is still in the top spot next year, I'm going to go down there and personally wash all the police cars and StanCATT cars in the county," he said. "I'm really looking forward to seeing the '06 numbers, because I think we're all really going to be happier."

Bee staff writer Chris Togneri can be reached at 578-2324 or ctogneri@modbee.com.