A TUCSON POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT SHOWS CAR THEFT AND CAR BREAK-INS ARE AT AN ALL-TIME LOW IN 2020. — A Tucson Police Department report shows car theft and car break-ins are at an all-time low in 2020. An Arizona Department of Public Safety Sergeant on the Vehicle Theft Task Force says the decrease is great, but thousands of incidents could have been prevented. Sgt. David Ball says new technology is helping to curb break-ins and thefts.
"The old hot wire method, you could force rotate ignitions, jiggle ignitions that were worn out, you can’t do that with these new vehicles.”
But there are still hundreds of incidents a month. One hot spot is in the 85705 zip code near Oracle between River Road and Grant. "That’s where a lot of our burglaries and auto thefts are occurring,” said Ball.
“That’s where a lot of our cases originate and come from, and that’s where we are making a lot of arrests of car thieves in that area.”
Ball says with better technology most cars made after 2006 can’t be stolen without the keys. Which means most of his recent cases involve someone who left their keys in the car or even left their car running with the doors unlocked.
"We are talking common sense things you can do to not be a victim of car theft. Lock your car, take your keys with you, do not leave your car running.”
Ball says the average car thief is not a criminal mastermind.
"They are crimes of opportunity. Using the cars to get to point A to point B and either continue to use them or dump them.”
He says just don’t make it easy for them and the number of incidents should get even lower.
