Auto Thefts Drop DespiteDiversion Of State Funds

Queens motorists have enjoyed an appreciable five-year 50 percent reduction in car thefts, according to the latest report issued by the Police Department (NYPD).
The pace of auto thefts in the borough’s 16 precincts has declined from 12,385 in 2000 to 6,343 last year.
The good news, however, is also tempered with concern. Seven of the city’s 13 worst precincts are in Queens. Five Queens precincts each have more thefts than all of Staten Island. Also, the New York Automobile Club (AAA) has called for additional funding to expand the battle against the costly crimes associated with auto theft, saying what the state is doing now is not enough.
AAA spokesperson John Corlett said the battle against grand larceny auto was supposed to part of an annual $60 million state program called “the Motor Vehicle Theft and Insurance Prevention Fraud Fund.” Financed by $5 taken out of each motorist’s car insurance policy last year, only $4.7 million was used to fight auto theft. The balance of the fund was earmarked for “state police operations.”
Corlett said that while stolen car claims were declining, state insurance fraud claims are among the highest in the country.
Last November, a concerned Councilmember John Liu, who chairs the Council’s transportation committee, called for the state insurance department to “investigate the operation of the fund intended to reduce insurance fraud.”
Locally, the 109th Precinct had the most thefts in Queens and third most in the city. The 100th Precinct (Rockaway Park) boasted the borough’s least thefts.
Despite the sharp drop, records show that borough cars are stolen at a rate of 18 per-day and make up nearly one-third of all stolen city vehicles.
Victor Ross is a freelance writer.