Douglas County Sheriff's Office makes three car theft arrests in 24 hour period in Colorado

Suspected car thieves from Aurora, Denver, and Colorado Springs, all caught in Douglas County in a 24-hour period.

"We're identifying people in these stolen cars and were going after them and were stopping them and were making arrests," said Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly. 

Weekly says thefts originating in the county are down 27% and cars eluding police are down 44% since last year. 

"Douglas County is an anomaly. Motor vehicle theft is going down in our county and I think a big part of that is our approach to catching criminals," said Weekly. 

License plate readers are a big part of the department's strategy. Placed on major roadways and in every patrol car, they automatically alert if a license plate passes by that's been linked to a crime. 

"Those license plate readers are also good to identify sex offenders, to identify vehicles associated with arrest warrants and stuff like that. So it's a game changer for law enforcement and it's proven to be very useful," said Weekly. 

The sheriff says many of the thefts come from other jurisdictions and involve other crimes. 

"It isn't just a stolen car, there's a lot of other crimes that are associated. Stolen credit cards, evidence of property crimes things like that, illegal drugs," said Weekly. 

He says the more everyone takes precautions, the fewer criminals the department will have to chase. 

"We have a lower crime rate in Douglas County, but that doesn't mean we don't have crime. If people just lock their doors and lock their windows, we'd have a lot less crime in Douglas County," said Weekly. 

In addition to locking your car and removing your valuables, don't start your car and leave it unattended in your driveway, even though it's tempting on cold days.