Auto thefts fall in Montgomery County
By: Alan Suderman
Examiner Staff Writer
March 19, 2009
Montgomery County police received 225 fewer reports of stolen vehicles last year, a “bright spot” in mostly unchanging crime statistics, according to the county’s police chief.
The county saw small increases in the number of murders, rapes and assaults last year compared with the previous year, while the number of thefts rose by nearly 9 percent, said a report by Police Chief J. Thomas Manger set to be presented to the County Council today.
“The detectives in our auto theft section are doing a great job at making arrests and reducing the number of vehicle thefts,” Manger said in his report, adding that “by any measure, Montgomery County continues to enjoy a very low crime rate.”
There were 2,258 vehicles stolen in the county last year, but police were able to close only 267 auto theft-related cases, according to the report.
Stealing items from vehicles rose by 17.2 percent last year over the previous year, Manger said, with the county seeing a huge spike in the number of GPS units being stolen from cars.
Burglars told detectives that there was less of a risk of getting caught stealing from cars and that the haul was “pretty profitable,” Manger said.
Manger added that there was a disproportionate number of robberies and assaults in the central business districts of Silver Spring and Wheaton.
There was a significant rise in the number of burglaries and robberies committed by gangs last year, Manger said, adding that there was a significant drop in reported cases of gang-related graffiti.
Overall, there were 2,623 residential burglaries in 2008, up 73 from the year before. But Manger said one man was suspected of committing as many as 100 burglaries himself.
County Executive Ike Leggett increased the public safety budget by $6.4 million in the budget he proposed Monday. But there still will be some cuts for the police department, and Leggett’s budget shows that the county will lose about $23,000 in grants for vehicle theft prevention efforts.
