Auto Theft in the United States

In 1996 1.4 million vehicles were reported stolen in the United States. These cars had an estimated value of 7.6 billion dollars. Auto theft accounted for 13% of all property crimes. One car was reported stolen every 20 seconds. The number one stolen vehicle was the Honda Accord. The state of Texas ranked fourth in auto theft.

In 1992 The Wall Street Journal reported that the City of Beaumont, Texas had the largest increase in auto theft from 1991 of any city with a population of 100,000 or greater. That increase was 54%.

The Southeast Texas Auto Theft Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency unit comprised of officers from the Beaumont Police Department, the Port Arthur Police Department, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the Hardin County Sheriif's Office. The unit is divided into two branches. The first is investigation and the second is crime prevention.

The task force, which is governed by the Texas Automobile Theft Prevention authority in Austin, is funded by a state grant. The funds for the grant are obtained from a $1.00 per year anti-theft fee that is added to every auto insurance policy in the state. Since the inception of the task force in March 1993, Jefferson County has experienced a 55% decrease in auto theft. The task force has made 672 arrests, filed 670 criminal cases and recovered 497 stolen vehicles with and estimated value of 5.37 million dollars.

The investigative branch of the task force targets auto theft at every level. Emphasis is given to theft rings, street gang related auto thefts and repeat offenders. Because many cars are stolen for their parts the unit developed a program to monitor, inspect and inventory local repair shops, salvage yards and used parts dealers.

A major key to solving any problem is awareness. The task force is equipped with a full time crime prevention officer whose sole purpose is to use media campaigns and public presentations to better inform local communities of thr auto theft problem in their area and methods of auto theft prevention. The officer is available to give crime prevention presentations to civic groups upon request. To arrange a presentation for your group simply contact the task force at 842-6341.

The Southeast Texas Auto Theft Task Force is one of the more than 350 issuing agencies for the Texas Help End Auto Theft (H.E.A.T.) Program. Currently there are more than 50,000 cars registered across the state. More than 3300 of these vehicles are in Jefferson, Orange and Hardin counties. The top five registering agencies are as follows: Dallas; Fort Worth; El Paso; Houston & Beaumont.

Task Force Commander: Lt. Jeffcoat

Operations/Intelligence/Crime Prevention: Roger Ross

Jefferson County: T. McMilian

Port Arthur: E. Boudeaux (409-983-8645)

Beaumont Police Department: A. Goudeau, J.P. Connolly, J. Simonson & Bill Fratus

Hardin County: A. Roberts (409-246-3441)