Pandemic creating ‘perfect storm’ for car thefts

LOS ANGELES — The coronavirus hasn’t been kind to car owners.

With more people than ever staying home to lessen the spread of COVID-19, their vehicles are parked unattended on the streets, making them easy targets for opportunistic thieves.

Despite silent streets and nearly nonexistent traffic, vehicle larcenies shot up 63 percent in New York and nearly 17 percent in Los Angeles from Jan. 1 through midMay, compared with the same period last year.

In Austin last month, a whopping 72 percent of the 322 stolen vehicles had their keys nearby. The total number of auto thefts in April spiked about 50 percent from April 2019.

The virus has created a “perfect storm,” said Austin police Sgt. Chris Vetrano.

The elements for that storm: Drivers are at home and not using or checking their cars regularly. School’s out, so teenagers are trying their luck. Criminals are out of work and have more time on their hands or need fast money to support a drug habit.

“You can get on the internet nowadays and learn how to break into vehicles just searching YouTube,” Vetrano said.

Many other law enforcement agencies around the U.S. also are reporting an increase in stolen cars and vehicle burglaries, even as violent crime has dropped dramatically nationwide amid the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a low-risk crime with a potentially high reward, police say, especially when many drivers leave their doors unlocked or their keys inside.

“You might as well put a sticker on the window that says ‘come take my stuff,’ ” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said.

He should know: Someone broke into his locked Ford F-150 pickup, one of the most commonly stolen vehicles, about a year ago.

Salt Lake City police Detective Greg Wilking said a 22 percent spike in vehicle burglaries there could be from a few criminals working quickly on “car prowls.”

“It’s really 10 seconds,” he said. “They’re not spending a lot of time in your car. It’s a smash-and-graband-go.”

Wilking worries the numbers will keep rising because “people get more desperate as time goes on.”

In Baltimore, though, a push to reduce the city’s historically high numbers of vehicle thefts and burglaries appears to have paid off. Thefts from autos plunged 24 percent and stolen vehicles dropped 19 percent from January to May compared with the same period last year.

Col. Richard Worley, the chief of patrol, in part credits aggressive efforts to remind residents to lock their cars, take their keys home and park in well-lit areas.