Denver auto thefts high while arrests lag: "They don't understand how much they hurt families"
Editor's note: This story was first published in October. This week it was featured in the CBS News Colorado special "Your Reporter: Covering Colorado First 2023."
It's no secret that Colorado has been at the top when it comes to the number of auto thefts in the country. While cars are often recovered and returned to victims in the Centennial State, the chances that someone will be held accountable are low.
Busy mom Lora McCabe knows that firsthand.
She left her apartment early one morning in May only to find an empty parking space where her car was supposed to be.
"I was in shock," she said.
Her mind started racing.
"'How am I going to get them to school? How am I going to get groceries? How am I going to take them to their therapies?' because they are both in therapy, 'how am I going to get them to their doctor appointment? How am I going to take care of my kids,'" she thought.
With two special needs children, her vehicle was a critical part of her day.
"We are struggling already, you know, and to have something like that -- I saved for a long time to be able to purchase my vehicle," she said.
Her name is now added to a growing list of auto theft victims in and around the Denver metro area.
"Over the last 12 to 18 months, that would be fair to say that we were seeing just numbers that we have not experienced in recent memory," said Lt. Ryan Harris with the Denver Police Department.
Most vehicles that are stolen in Colorado are eventually recovered. They're often found dumped on the side of the road. But CBS Colorado's investigation found the thieves are usually long gone.
Of the 14,364 thefts in Denver in 2022, arrests were made in less than 1,000 cases, which comes out to roughly 7% of cases.
"You have an 82% recovery rate but 5% to 7% arrest rate. Would you like to see that number closer?" CBS Colorado investigative reporter Karen Morfitt asked.
"Absolutely," Harris answered.
CBS Colorado looked at the last five years of theft data, which shows that the arrest rate has remained under 10%.
Harris acknowledges when it comes to arrests, there's work to be done.
"It's a hard crime to prove, especially when we get cars that are unoccupied recoveries. There's a lot of investigative challenges with that, so our clearance rate is not where we want it to be, but I think we are at the beginning of an increase," Harris said.
Harris is excited about the recent launch of Denver police's DenverTrack program, where vehicle owners with a way to track their vehicles register with DPD. He also feels positive about the new Denver Auto Theft Team. For the first time, the department has repurposed detectives to only work on auto theft cases.
"Having a dedicated team -- having a team that is proactively out there, we have been able to make significant arrests, get good leads on cases and, like we said, when we arrest one suspect, we might not just be clearing just that one case," Harris said.
That program was extended after an increase in arrests in the first three months.
Harris says they want to add to that progress, saying they are looking to other departments for ideas: "It's a combination of three things; people, innovation and community."
Jack Cauley is the chief of the Castle Rock Police Department, where license plate readers have helped increase arrests.
"When a vehicle is stolen and it's in the computer system, that vehicle comes to Castle Rock, we are able to identify the fact that it is a stolen vehicle, that information is given to our dispatchers live. It's also sent out to the police officers in their vehicles live," Cauley said.
The town and private HOAs have invested in the technology as well adding to the number of alerts they are receiving
For McCabe who, after three months, learned her vehicle had been found and was totaled, any hope of holding thieves accountable is fading.
"These thieves, I know they don't care," she said. "They don't understand how much they hurt families."
