PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland police are calling the declining number of car thefts in the city a win for the bureau. The latest data, from the month of October, showed a 36% decrease in stolen vehicles compared with the same time last year.
Over the past couple years, the ongoing problem has been top of mind for many Portlanders. In the last several months, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) reports that they've stepped up the response to the issue through data-driven strategies and community help.
On Saturday, Nov. 18, the East Precinct ran a joint agency Stolen Vehicle Operation with Gresham police, Port of Portland Police, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, the district attorney's Auto Theft Task Force, PPB's K9 Unit and Air Support Unit.
During the mission, officers recovered 11 stolen vehicles and one firearm, and took eight people in custody. In one of those cases, police attempted to stop the driver of a stolen Toyota Tacoma pick-up. The stolen vehicle was followed by PPB’s Air Support Unit as the driver continued to drive recklessly into oncoming traffic around SE Stark and 133rd. The driver proceeded drive, according to officers, onto Glendoveer public golf course, narrowly missing golfers on the course. He was taken into custody on the 14th hole.
Through efforts like this one, PPB and their partner agencies believe they've cut down on vehicle thefts over the last eight months. The bureau shared some of those statistics in a news release on Wednesday:
- April: 24.4% decrease compared to the previous year (892 to 674)
- May: 23.7% decrease compared to the previous year (849 to 648)
- June: 26.7% decrease compared to the previous year (829 to 607)
- July: 29.7% decrease compared to the previous year (862 to 606)
- August: 35.3% decrease compared to the previous year (939 to 608)
- September: 25.5% decrease compared to the previous year (861 to 644)
- October: 36.6% decrease compared to the previous year (931 to 590)
"When we look at year over year reductions, the rates have been going down anywhere from 20, to 30, to even 35%," said Sgt. Kevin Allen with PPB, "When it consistently does that over time, it tells us that we are doing something right."
Allen said he hopes the trend continues and that they'll continue to do missions in an effort to see that happen. It's become a big priority, spearheaded out of East Precinct, partially due to what thieves are doing with the stolen cars.
"There was a time when we tended to see people stealing cars just to sell them and make money, or just use them as transportation," Allen said. "Now, we are seeing more and more criminal actors committing other crimes using the stolen cars, and some of them are really serious: shootings, attempted murders. We see robberies. We see burglaries."
Officer attribute recent success to a couple things. First, they use data-driven strategies to pinpoint cars during recovery missions.
"We look for certain factors on cars, such as if there's no license plate, certain driving behaviors, if there's a broken window," Allen said. "Each one of those things by itself may not necessarily mean that a car is stolen. But all together, it makes it more and more likely that it might be stolen."
Another big part in the reduction in car thefts is community assistance through groups like PDX Stolen Cars.
"There a folks on these groups, and this Facebook group is one of them, who are absolutely doing a great job help us find where the stolen vehicle are so that we can come in and address that," Allen said.
The founder of the online group said they have an "excellent working relationship" with police.
"We are volunteers and we have been able to collaborate with them on stolen vehicle operations," said Titan Crawford, the founder of PDX Stolen Cars.
Personally, Crawford has seen the year over year reduction in his daily work.
"Police have reported that there’s less stolen vehicles and we’ve seen that reflected in the amount of posted vehicles. In my personal search, I’ve located less vehicles than I did last year," Crawford said. "It seems to have decreased by 30%, which is fantastic."
Portland police also noted a low ratio to find stolen vehicles, with one located out of everything three traffic stops during the last mission.