Las Vegas Valley no longer No. 1 in auto thefts

The Las Vegas Valley is no longer the worst place in the country for auto thefts.

It's second-worst.

After claiming the dubious top spot for 2006, the Las Vegas metropolitan area is in the No. 2 spot for the rate of automobile thefts per capita for 2007, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Clark County had 1,036 stolen vehicles per 100,000 residents, down from 1,261 in 2006.

All of the 10 worst cities were in the West, with Modesto, Calif., leading the way.

The Reno-Sparks area ranked 72nd in the country, down from 44th the year before, and Carson City was 244th, down from 199th the year before.

Despite the high rate in the valley, the Metropolitan Police Department believes it may finally be getting a handle on the crime.

"We've learned to do things much better than in the past," Las Vegas police Lt. Robert DuVall said. "Not that we were doing things wrong before, but I believe we didn't keep up with all the modern ways people were stealing cars."

The rate has been dropping steadily since the last half of 2006, and so far this year thefts are down 30 percent from the same period last year.

In North Las Vegas, thefts have declined by roughly 40 percent compared with the same period last year, and Henderson is also seeing drops this year.

"The numbers show that we're moving in the right direction," said Jim Denton, spokesman for the Nevada Insurance Council, a nonprofit organization representing the Nevada insurance industry.

But there probably will be little effect on insurance rates, according to Bob Feldman, secretary-treasurer of the council and a member of the governor's task force on auto theft and insurance fraud.

Only about 7 percent of auto insurance premiums are related to local vehicle theft, Feldman said. So a drop in the theft rate of 15 percent, as happened between 2007 and 2006, won't make much of a difference to overall insurance rates, he said.

The drop in vehicle thefts coincides with a change in police tactics. Police rolled out bait vehicles -- and an extensive media campaign to let potential thieves know about the cars -- in October 2006.

Since then, the vehicles have netted more than 200 arrests and had a chilling effect on potential thieves, DuVall said.

Authorities have also re-organized the Vehicle Investigations Project for Enforcement and Recovery, or VIPER, a team that includes officers from the Nevada Highway Patrol, Henderson and North Las Vegas.

The VIPER team was split into two units, one to go after professional car thieves and chop shops and another to track joy-riders and people who steal vehicles to commit other crimes.

The teams are no longer restricted by jurisdiction, so North Las Vegas police officers might be working in Henderson, and Las Vegas police in North Las Vegas, DuVall said.

The system has increased efficiency and improved communication between local agencies and agencies out of state, he said.

"A lot of us are all on the same sheet of music now," he said.

DuVall said he predicts another drop this year. "We're not going to relax," DuVall said.

Feldman said he expects automobile thefts to continue to drop, but the number of insurance fraud cases related to automobiles to rise.

He estimates that between 20 percent and 30 percent of all vehicles reported stolen are not actually stolen. Rather, they're fraud cases in which the owner owes more on the car than it is worth and is desperate to get out of the situation.

Owners may get into an accident, flee the scene and report their vehicle stolen, he said. Or they may take their car into the desert, light them on fire and report them stolen. Or they may have somebody drive the vehicle to Mexico and sell it, and then report it stolen.

Those crimes boost local insurance rates and add to crime statistics.

"Nevada currently has the 10th-highest overall insurance rates in the country, and there's a lot of fraud that contributes to that," Feldman said.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.