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Las Vegas, the nation's No. 2 hot spot for hot cars in 2005, is getting a lot hotter.

Vehicle thefts skyrocketed nearly 23 percent during the first four months of 2006 compared with the same period last year, according to Metropolitan Police Department statistics obtained by the Review-Journal.

Thieves boosted 7,240 vehicles between Jan. 1 and April 30, meaning a car was stolen every 25 minutes on average.

About 5,900 vehicles were stolen during the corresponding months in 2005, the year Las Vegas had the nation's second-highest rate of stolen cars, trailing only Modesto, Calif.

"Ouch! You guys may knock Modesto off the top this year," said Frank Scafidi, a spokesman for the Illinois-based National Crime Insurance Bureau, the insurance industry group that compiles the annual list ranking cities by most vehicle thefts.

The increase in stolen cars far outpaced the population growth in the Police Department's jurisdiction during the year, which was about 4 percent.

So many hot cars means Las Vegans' insurance bills could soon be burning even bigger holes in their pocket, regardless of whether they've ever been robbed of their ride.

"The cost ends up appearing in the rates and premiums of all policyholders, even if your car's never been stolen," Scafidi said. "We all pay for stolen vehicles."

Earlier this month, police blamed Las Vegas' high vehicular theft rate on a "target-rich" environment of massive casino parking garages.

But crime statistics analyzed by the Review-Journal show that only 696, or about 3 percent, of the 22,465 vehicles stolen in the Las Vegas metropolitan area in 2005 were swiped from addresses lining the Strip, home to the largest concentration of large parking garages in the department's jurisdiction.

The statistics show police made arrests in only 50 of those Strip car thefts last year, a solve rate of about 7 percent. Jurisdiction-wide, police made 1,750 arrests in connection with the 22,465 stolen cars, closer to 8 percent.

Department officials acknowledged last week that efforts at cracking down on car thieves have been lackluster. The cop tasked with making it better is Lt. Robert DuVall, the newly installed commander of the auto theft detail.

"Metro is working on correcting this problem," said DuVall, who was assigned to take over the detail in January. "We are revamping the section. I'm sure we're going to make a dent in these numbers."

For ideas on how to do that, DuVall and his detectives are turning to jurisdictions that have had success reducing car thefts.

DuVall visited Dallas earlier this year to learn about their bait-car program, which has been nationally recognized for its achievement in collaring habitual auto thieves.

Bait cars are police-owned cars set up to be an attractive target for professional thieves. With the advent of global positioning system technology, detectives do not have to surveil a car 24 hours a day to track and detain its thief.

Bait cars have proven one of the best tools for combatting professional thieves, crime experts say.

"Bait cars are effective, but they're expensive for police agencies," said Carnegie Mellon University professor Alfred Blumstein, one of the nation's leading criminologists.

Police officials declined to discuss specifics of the bait car program they aim to launch by July 1, saying doing so would aid thieves trying to foil it.

DuVall said his reorganization of the auto theft detail would be most heavily influenced by Anaheim, Calif.'s successful OCATT operation. The multijurisdictional Orange County Auto Theft Team, which measured a 37 percent auto theft reduction in a single year, concentrates on pro-active rather than reactive enforcement.

"We took the whole team down to learn from them," DuVall said. "One squad of detectives will concentrate on catching professional thieves. One squad on chop shops, and one squad will manage our massive case load and on (theft) prevention."

The detail will need more manpower to successfully shift from just focusing on case management.

"We're taxed to the limit," DuVall said.

Traditionally, Sheriff Bill Young has committed much of the department's investigative resources to violent crimes, which are much fewer in number but more grave in their effect.

For instance, the auto theft detail has 13 detectives assigned to handle about 1,800 car thefts a month. The homicide unit has 24 detectives handling an average 12 slayings each month.

Despite limited resources concentrated on property crime, Las Vegas police have had success in recovering stolen vehicles.

About 80 percent are found locally and returned to their owners within about a month of the theft.

However, about a fourth of the recovered cars have been picked clean for parts.

Said DuVall: "They're found stripped, usually down to the bare bones, just the shell of the car."