Auto Theft

Gathering Intelligence

The most important first step must be the collection o relevant data. It is only through the systematic collection of information concerning characteristics of location, times and methods used by offenders that a clear picture of the problem will emerge. This information can then be used both to inform local car owners and residents of the problem as well as to train police officers. In many densely populated areas, thefts from cars go uninvestigated if there is no information from the victim as to the identity of the perpetrator. Frequently, police departments do not even send an officer to the scene to investigate or to interview the victim. Reports on these types of offenses are often simply taken over the telephone and entered into the departments’ records. While this sort of action may be pragmatic in overburdened police agencies, when attempting to address a specific problem it causes the loss of a...

A. THE NATURE OF AUTO THEF' (1, 11, 12)

The necessary first step in any discussion of auto theft in the United States is to become aware of certain legalistic peculiarities in American law as they apply to the crime of theft. The common law definition of larceny (or theft) hias, historically, come to include in it an element of attempted, or actual, permanent deprivation of the rightful owner of his chattel. A major legal problem, therefore, arose in the past, as to whether an individual who only "borrowed" someone's car for "joyriding" purposes could be classified as a thief. Not infrequently the accused, after convincing the court that he did not intend to keep or sell the car or, indeed, was returning it to its rightful owner when apprehended, was found not to have violated existing larceny statutes and was set free. Thus in one precedent ...