There is good news and bad news about auto theft in Arizona.

The good news is that our state no longer leads the nation in this crime.  Vehicle thefts have dropped every year since hitting a peak of 56,876 in 2002.

The bad news is that on an average day last year, 147 vehicles in Arizona were stolen.  That's one auto theft every 10 minutes.  The total of 53,787 gave our state the third highest per capita ranking in the country.

Phoenix and Tucson had the 4th and 10th highest auto theft rates, respectively, among the nation's major metropolitan areas.  Vehicle thefts accounted for 56 percent of all property crimes reported in Arizona in 2006.  The state's recovery rate improved to 69 percent, but that still left 31 percent of stolen vehicles unrecovered.

Law enforcement agencies across the state are working hard to accelerate this crime's decline.  Thanks to the Arizona Auto Theft Prevention Authority, bait cars and license plate readers are in widespread use.  These and other successful strategies are being discussed this week at the annual meeting of the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators at the Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park.

One tool my Office has contributed to combating auto theft is our TheftAZ online service.  Citizens can find out immediately if a car has been reported stolen in Arizona by going to www.theftaz.azag.gov and typing in its license plate number or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).  If the car has been reported stolen, you will be directed to contact the appropriate police agency.  This page has become the most popular on our Web site with more than 14,000 hits a month since it was introduced last summer.

The page has also been useful to law enforcement agencies in Mexico, where a significant portion of cars stolen in Arizona are taken.  We have seen increasing ties between auto theft and such border crimes as drug smuggling and human trafficking.  One of my top priorities this year is to work even more closely with Mexican authorities to investigate and prosecute these crimes.

Citizens can take some basic precautions to help reduce auto theft:

●    Take your keys.  Nearly 20 percent of all vehicles stolen have the keys in them. 

●    Lock your car.  About half of all vehicles stolen are left unlocked.

●    Don't hide a second set of keys in your car.  Extra keys can be found by an experienced thief.

●    Park in well-lighted areas.  More than 50 percent of all car thefts occur at night.

●    Never leave your car running.  Many thefts take place at convenience stores or ATMs when people leave them for only a minute.

Click here for a complete list of tips to prevent car theft.  Working together, we can continue to cut the number of cars stolen in Arizona.

Attorney General.

Terry Goddard