Number of guns taken from vehicles rising

CEDAR RAPIDS — Twenty-two firearms — assorted handguns, a shotgun and a muzzleloader rifle — have been stolen from vehicles in Cedar Rapids in 2015 so far.

This marks the second straight year at least 20 weapons were reported stolen from vehicles in the city. In 2014, there were 21 firearms reported stolen from vehicles.

But in 2012 and 2013, only 7 and 6 weapons, respectively, were reported stolen from vehicles.

While gun violence has plagued the city in each of the last two years, police said they have not been able to link stolen weapons to the rise in shootings and shots-fired incidents in the city. However, police do say cases involving guns stolen from vehicles are difficult to solve, particularly with a majority of them involving unlocked doors.

'A lot of times, there isn't a lot of evidence left behind,' Cedar Rapids police Sgt. Matt Welsh said. 'Someone leaves their car unlocked and someone gets in there and takes something. It may be a couple of days before they realize something is missing and they contact police.'

To date, police have not made any arrests in these stolen-weapon cases nor have any weapons been recovered. The incident reports for those cases often are classified as lacking 'solvability criteria' or having exhausted leads.

Welsh said that's the nature of theft from vehicle charges, not just those involving firearms.

'A lot of times, there isn't any forced entry — the car is unlocked,' he said. 'Despite what a lot of people might see on these (TV) cop shows, you don't always get finger prints and everything else. They are kind of hard to follow.'

Further complicating matters is some people are making it easier for criminals to steal the weapons from their vehicles. Welsh said crime data provided by the department's crime analyst shows close to 67 percent of the vehicles were unlocked.

Welsh said some car owners just forget after a long day, while others choose to leave their vehicles unlocked rather than have their windows busted out by a would-be burglar.

While Cedar Rapids has seen a rise in shootings and shots-fired incidents in the past two years — more than 90 incidents have been reported in 2014 and 2015 — police said they're not ready to draw any connection between the uptick in gun violence and weapons stolen from vehicles, though they can't rule it out, either.

'I'm honestly not sensing that,' Welsh said. 'I'm not saying that guns that are stolen out of these vehicles haven't been involved in some of these shootings.'

Welsh added that a majority of the people who seem to be involved in gun violence in the city cannot purchase weapons legally.

'If you are a person that feels you need one, quite honestly the only way to get one is not in a legal way,' he said.

So what is happening to these weapons after their stolen? Police said it's difficult to say as those firearms have not been recovered. Welsh said he's not aware of any active black market gun trade in the city.

When a weapon is reported as stolen, its serial number is entered into the National Crime Information Center database, which allows police across the country to search the numbers of any recovered weapons to determine if they are stolen. That can potentially lead to an arrest if someone would attempt to pawn a stolen weapon.

'We'll go out there and get the weapon,' Welsh said. 'You're required to show your ID (when you pawn it). That can lead us to who pawned the gun.'

Deploying strategies

Cedar Rapids is not alone in having cases of guns being stolen from vehicles. In October, three Marion men were arrested for a string of vehicle burglaries. Among the items stolen were a gun and ammunition clip.

Also that month, the Iowa City Police Department reported two separate cases of firearms stolen from unattended vehicles. Those cases remain open investigations, Sgt. Scott Gaarde said.

'We encourage people not to leave valuable items inside their cars,' Gaarde said. 'If they have to, the trunk is the best location.'

While vehicle thefts are often a crime of random opportunity — not something planned or tied to a certain person or place — Cedar Rapids public safety spokesman Greg Buelow said the department does rely on crime data to try to prevent future thefts.

'If they see some trends, like a particular geographic area or a time or other factors that are similar, they look at that and that can be a strategy for investigators or patrol officers,' Buelow said. 'If they are getting stolen from a certain block or geographic area, then obviously there are some strategies that can be deployed.'

Although the actual thefts from vehicles — not just those involving weapons — are difficult to solve, Welsh said that doesn't mean there are not opportunities for prosecution later. If, for example, a checkbook is stolen and one of those checks is forged and recovered, a new investigation can open.

'That's the type of thing we'd try to follow through on, try to speak to them, 'How did you get the checkbook?'' Welsh said. The case 'could definitely be reopened and followed up on if anything comes to light.'

The most important thing, Welsh said, is for gun owners to store their weapons in a safe and secure place. The car is generally not that place.

'If you're a gun owner, you need to be responsible with that weapon,' he said. 'You should have a safe for it so it's secure ...

You have a responsibility to do that and not keep the gun in the car.'