More car thefts being reported in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City

The number of cars stolen in Cedar Rapids each year continues to rise.

Cedar Rapids Police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said 144 vehicles have been reported stolen so far this year. That's up from 132 over the same period last year and 102 stolen during the first six months of 2011.

Since the beginning June, the department has taken 49 reports of stolen vehicles.

“I really don't know why there's the increase,” Hamblin said. “You can see, over the last three years, we've had 42 more than two years ago. I'm not really sure why.”

Police suspect more people are leaving their keys in their car. Hamblin said when the police sent out an advisory a few years back about not leaving keys in the car, they saw a temporary decrease in stolen vehicle reports.

“I think we get lackadaisical and forget,” she said.

Hamblin said vehicles have been reported stolen throughout the city, but complaints commonly originate from residential areas. On the bright side, 87 percent of all vehicles stolen in Cedar Rapids have been recovered, compared with only 57 percent nationwide.

Most vehicles that have been stolen are those left with keys in the car, police said.

Hamblin said some cars are stolen when a criminal looking to steal a laptop or other valuable from a vehicle finds the keys inside. Others just steal the car for the thrill.

“Earlier this year, we had some kids, they were just stealing cars left and right just to go joyriding in them,” she said. Those teens were eventually caught in the act by a car owner, Hamblin said.

Cedar Rapids isn't alone in seeing an uptick of stolen vehicle reports. Iowa City police Sgt. Vicki Lalla said the department has taken 59 reports of stolen cars so far this year, up from 44 a year ago.

Lalla cautioned that those are only calls for service and not necessarily actually stolen vehicles.

“Someone might call in and say ‘My car was stolen,' but when the officer gets there, they realize the car was repo'd,” Lalla said.

Lalla recalls a case from a few years ago when a number of cars were stolen from area car dealerships. One of the suspects was arrested after a traffic stop in another state and the officer determined the car she driving was stolen. Lalla said when the woman's significant other showed up to the police station to pick her up, he was driving a stolen car, as well.

When a car is determined to be stolen, the data is entered in the National Crime Information Center database. Lalla said if police have an indication of where the thief is heading, they'll also contact that jurisdiction directly.

Unfortunately, that's rarely the case.

“The majority of cars that get stolen, we don't know where they're heading or where they may end up,” Lalla said.

Police advise motorists not to leave the car running if they are not in the vehicle, lock their car doors and not leave the keys in the ignition. Cars are not a good place to leave valuables and they should be parked in a garage, driveway or well-lit area whenever possible, police said.

Vehicles stolen in Cedar Rapids, from January through July 2013