Ever heard the expression “Drive it like you stole it”?
South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s Amy Varland has the story on the surprising number of vehicle thefts in the State.
The Midwest generally brings to mind images of cows peacefully grazing in endless fields, and farmers and ranchers sipping coffee at the corner café. The Midwest does not generally conjure up images of stolen vehicles – that seems more like big city stuff.
But hold on to your hat, because just last year, seven–hundred-eighty-seven vehicles were stolen in South Dakota. Rapid City and Sioux Falls make up the bulk of the statistics with one-hundred-fifty-eight having been stolen in Rapid City, and even more – two-hundred-seventy-eight were stolen in Sioux Falls.
According to the Attorney General’s report on Crime in South Dakota, the numbers have been holding steady for the last ten years, and show no signs of slowing down.
Duane Baker is a Detective with the Rapid City Police Department. He says this year’s numbers are right on track to matching those of last year.
“To date we’ve got about one-hundred-fifty cars that have been stolen in Rapid City,” says Baker.
Baker says the vehicle theft numbers are disconcerting.
“You know when you look at the numbers and you have almost a vehicle theft every other day I don’t think that’s good. And I really think we could eliminate a lot of that if people would seriously just take the time and lock their cars and take the keys out of the vehicle,” says Baker.
Auto theft is more common in Sioux Falls than in Rapid City. Sam Clemens is the Public Information Officer for the Sioux Falls Police Department.
“In 2011 we had two-hundred-eighty-five stolen vehicles in Sioux Falls. One-hundred-forty-eight were found, were recovered,” says Clemens.
Those are last year’s statistics.
But this year there have already been two-hundred-one vehicles stolen in Sioux Falls. And only half have been recovered.
That means almost fifty-percent of the stolen vehicles are still missing.
And Clemmons says the calls keep coming in.
“I talked to a Detective and he said there was a case just the other day where the guy went inside a convenience store to grab something – he thought he was inside for maybe three minutes and during that time his car had been parked outside and left running. When he came out it was gone,” says Clemens.
No violent car-jackings have been reported in Sioux Falls or Rapid City, but there are reports that are equally alarming.
“Over the years we’ve had a handful of times where cars have been stolen that have had kids left in them. Then it was the same type of thing. A car was left running with it unlocked and a parent went inside a store whatever it may have been – just anticipated being in there for a short amount of time and usually left the kid sleeping inside the car. When they came out the car was gone. And in those instances we’ve been fortunate that I think the thieves once they realized there was a child in there didn’t want any part of it and they quickly abandoned the car in the place where it was found. So that doesn’t happen very often but we’ve had a few instances of that over the years,” says Clemens.
Law Enforcement Officials say they do not have evidence that points to any organized vehicle thieve rings, or local chop shops in the State. Instead Detective Baker from Rapid City says the vehicle thefts seem to be spontaneous.
“It’s more of a crime of opportunity. A lot of times you see that these people are burglarizing vehicles and they find a key in the console or they find a key in the ignition. And they’ve got the key, they’ve got the vehicle, and they just go,” says Baker.
And Baker adds that once they go, the joyride is just the beginning.
“The people who take your car don’t care about your car. So if they wreck it, if they trash it, or if it gets damaged, they’re not concerned about it. It’s not their responsibility, not their concern, not their care,” says Baker.
And it’s not just four wheeled vehicles that get stolen.
Just ask Andy Mosher from Deadwood. He had his 1997 Harley Davidson stolen just before the start of this year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. It was recovered in a hotel parking lot thirteen days later.
“The tag was still on it. It had been damaged quite a bit. They had ridden it for two-hundred-sixty-five miles and stolen a lot of things out of the saddle bags, but I did get it back,” says Mosher.
With recovery rates hovering at close to fifty-percent, Mosher is one of the lucky ones.
“Yeah it’s very doubtful that I would’ve gotten it back if these people didn’t want me to have it back. If they hadn’t given up on it and just parked it I would have never seen it again,” says Mosher.
Officials say most stolen vehicles are recovered locally – they don’t usually leave the State.
Rapid City Police Officer Daniel Anderson responds to calls for stolen vehicles. He says that if and when the car does turn up it, police scour it for clues.
“Once we recover a car, there’s evidence inside the car. The person that was in the car obviously is going to leave some things behind. Fingerprints, DNA, hairs, things like that. If they go to like fast food places they’re going to leave cups, sodas behind. Say we find a Wal Mart receipt, if we can go time, place, and date we can find them on camera at that register. I mean theres all sorts of things that we’re looking for in that vehicle that will lead try to lead us to that person,” says Anderson.
Officials encourage the public to remove valuables from their vehicles, to lock their cars, and take the keys with them. And with winter arriving, sub-zero temperatures are too. So you may want to resist the temptation to warm your car up because you may find yourself with no car instead of a cold one.