By Danielle McNamara, Contra Costa County (Calif.) Times
An increase in car thefts and break-ins at Bay Area Rapid Transit subway stations over the past three years has led police departments in Contra Costa to analyze trends in the area.
Six police chiefs and the county’s chief prosecutor have formed an auto theft committee to compile statistics so they can focus on problem areas and identify repeat suspects, BART Police Chief Gary Gee said.
The partnership between the agencies will expand suspect profiles, making it easier to identify repeat offenders, Gee said.
The committee met Wednesday to initiate a county-wide awareness campaign and seek participation and funding from insurance companies, he said.
“Car theft is not always seen as a serious crime,” Gee said. “We don’t think of car thieves as someone who just has a joy ride. They commit other crimes with the cars.”
Gee said first-time offenders are often charged with misdemeanors, but judges should be educated about risks to officers and the public when police attempt to apprehend car thieves.
Six Concord officer-involved shootings and two fatal crashes involved car theft suspects in the past year and a half, Gee said.
Statistics from cities were unavailable Friday, but BART stations in Contra Costa reported a 29 percent increase in auto thefts for the period April to June 2003 compared to the same period last year.
El Cerrito Del Norte station had 29 car thefts in 2002. By May of this year, 28 had been reported, Gee said. Similarly, the Orinda station by May had surpassed last year’s total of eight thefts.
Walnut Creek, which reported six thefts in 2002, reported five by May of this year.
Gee said car thefts and other property crimes tend to rise when unemployment goes up and the economy goes down.
Police chiefs from Concord, Antioch, Moraga, Pinole, Martinez and BART, as well as Contra Costa District Attorney Robert Kochly, sit on the car theft committee.