By Matt Joyce, Waco Tribune Herald (Texas)
Waco police Detective Sherry Anderson attributes part of her success in fighting car thieves to the hours she spends visiting dealerships, neighborhoods, salvage yards and garages.
“I don’t spend a lot of time in my office,” she said. “I have the luxury of being as much proactive as I am reactive.”
The street time pays off when neighbors report the racket of metal saws cutting a car into parts in the middle of the night, or when an auto-parts dealer reports a shady character hawking items.
Such crime-fighting advances were what the Waco Police Department was hoping for when it assigned Anderson to focus her time on investigating stolen autos four years ago.
After spiking in 1999, the number of stolen auto cases in Waco has dropped each of the past five years, including a 13 percent drop from 728 in 2003 to 632 in 2004, according to police records.
Waco Police Chief Alberto Melis said Anderson has been the driving force behind the improvement.
“If there’s a single thing that I can put my finger on, I think it would largely be Sherry Anderson’s hard effort,” he said.
Waco’s stolen car numbers have dropped while the number of stolen cars across the state increased. The number of cars stolen in Texas increased from 91,992 in 1999 to 102,943 in 2002, according to Michelle Lanham, program manager of the Texas Automobile Theft Prevention Authority. That number fell to 98,174 in 2003; statewide 2004 numbers are not yet available.
Lanham said the formation four years ago of the Heart of Texas Auto Theft Task Force – which includes Waco police, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Limestone and Coryell counties – has probably contributed to Waco’s success.
“If there was ever a time to get increased efforts, that was the time to do it, because it just so happened the state was about to see an increase,” she said.
Still, Waco’s numbers exceeded those of at least one comparably sized city. While Waco had 632 stolen cars in 2004, Beaumont had 518, according to Beaumont police officer Carmen Apple.
This week, the Texas Department of Transportation released its list of the top 10 stolen vehicles in 2004 in Texas. Starting with the most commonly stolen, the list includes Chevrolet trucks, Ford trucks, Dodge trucks, Honda Accord, Honda Civic, GMC trucks, Toyota Camry, Fort Taurus, Chevrolet Tahoe and Oldsmobile Cutlass.
Lanham said auto theft costs Texans more than any other crime.
“If you think about it, what one thing do you own that’s worth more than your car and can be easily stolen?” she said.
Anderson said Waco’s stolen car trends reflect the state’s. Chevy trucks and sport-utility vehicles have been hot items lately, she said.
The department recently broke up a ring of thieves selling brand-new Dodge trucks, Anderson said. Thieves would steal the trucks from Fort Worth dealers and sell them in Waco for as low as $3,000, she said.
Sometimes the crime trends follow the season. For example, four-wheelers start disappearing during deer-hunting season, she said.
The majority of stolen cars in Waco result from joy rides or people stealing cars to get from one place to another, Anderson said.
Second to that, most cars are stolen for parts. Rather than selling a car, thieves can make more money by taking the car to a “chop shop,” where it is broken into parts that are sold separately. A $15,000 truck can be “parted out” for as much as $40,000, Anderson said.
Anderson said she’s pleased to see the decrease in stolen cars, but there’s work to be done.
“The numbers to me represent people, not cars,” she said. “Unless you’ve gone without a vehicle or transportation, you cannot fathom the hardship (a stolen car) can create for some people.”