Final Presentation: Increase in Auto Thefts City Wide by Lt. Randy Pasley UT APD West Point Leadership Program

Problem Statement l The first calendar year quarter of 2001, shows that there is a 37% increase in auto thefts. l The calendar year, 2000, was an exceptionally successful time period that stands out in contrast to this current quarter. l The year 2000 had the lowest rate of auto thefts since This is remarkable when you consider population growth and the fact that there are now more registered vehicles, than people in the City of Austin. l I plan to use the Leader’s Problem Solving Model as conveyed in the West Point Leadership Program to Address this problem.

IDENTIFY: Scan for Areas of Interest

IDENTIFY Scan for Areas of Interest  Auto thefts have gone up 37% in the City of Austin and the Auto Theft Interdiction Project (ATIP) has been tasked with addressing this problem.  The ATIP is a centralized unit and must be refocused to attack a decentralized problem because reported auto thefts have increased over the entire City.

IDENTIFY Scan for Areas of Interest  Approximately18 months ago, Patrol Officers stopped taking auto theft reports and this has caused inaccurately tiled reports to inflate our auto theft statistics.  Now that Patrol Officers no longer take auto theft reports, they are not as focused on the issue and not as aware of hot spots as they once were.  Citizens are not informed about the auto theft problem in their neighborhoods and they are not aware of the steps that can be taken to prevent their cars from being stolen.  This problem contains some component of every West Point Leadership Program theory

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l ATIP will need to use a Holistic approach. The plan includes: »Coordinating ATIP resources with Area Commands »Traditional investigative techniques »Community awareness programs »Crime Analysis »Public service Announcements

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l “Brainstorming” at the beginning of the project. l Include Commission and non-commission personnel »Commend them for their accomplishments »Present them with a new challenge l Focus on the super-ordinate goal »no longer focus on commercial auto thefts »but to concentrate talents and resources of ATIP on increase of auto thefts city-wide.

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l Reinforce »This is a department wide problem »This must be addressed in a holistic fashion »That support from many different units must be utilized to achieve this organization’s goals »We will request assistance from Area Command Lieutenants »We will provide crime analysis that identifies hotspots and crime trends in their particular areas »We will coordinate on the use of bait vehicles and surveillance »We will request that Street Response saturate hot spots

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l We have identified which districts in the Area Commands have the highest incidents of auto thefts l We will solicit the support of the district representatives to provide crime prevention information to »neighborhoods »businesses »and apartment complexes l Each command is unique in regards to its auto theft problem

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l The Northeast Area Command has the Highest incidence of auto thefts. l We will network with the Northeast Support Lieutenant and District Representatives. l We will provide crime prevention presentations and brochures to the target areas. l We will set up community outreach events such as HEAT registrations and VIN-etching in the target areas

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l The ATIP Unit has determined that approximately 17% of all auto theft reports are actually “ crack rentals”, insurance fraud, UUMV, and civil matters. l This problem inaccurately inflates our auto theft statistics l Another factor that exacerbates this statistical problem is that attempted auto thefts are scored as auto thefts in the Chief’s Monthly Report.

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l Often, attempted auto theft reports are actually burglary of vehicles or criminal mischief reports called into Teleserve by citizens The ATIP crime analyst will review all auto theft reports for accuracy The six ATIP detectives will be divided into three teams responsible for reviewing all auto theft reports daily When a questionable report is identified, we will request that the Area Detective assigned to the case change the title We have requested that all Decentralized Investigative Sergeants insure that their Detectives are diligent about updating their case ATIP Detectives will provide training for Teleserve personnel. They are responsible for taking about 95% of all auto theft reports. The training will be classroom in nature. Handouts will be provided to help Teleserve personnel to better discern what should or should not be reported as auto thefts.

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l The ATIP Crime Analyst will insure that hot spot maps and crime trend information is distributed at show-ups to Patrol Officers. l ATIP Detectives will attend show-ups and address the increase in auto theft problem with Patrol Officers. l ATIP Detectives will discuss particular target areas and potential investigative techniques that would be effective in each District. l We want to ensure that the officers who will be doing the work are informed and are focused on the auto theft problems in their districts. l Our Community Outreach personnel will offer free HEAT tee-shirts to any officers that make HEAT stops as a reward for participating in the program. l Communications will broadcast the HEAT stop times (1am-5am) every night to draw attention to the program.

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l Citizens should be aware that auto thefts are on the increase and that there are several actions that they can take to make their vehicles harder targets. l We will conduct press releases through the Public Information Office and hold interviews with local television and radio stations. l We will obtain public service commercials from the Texas Department of Transportation and make arrangements to have them aired on local television stations. l We will also advertise HEAT registrations and VIN- etching events in the Austin-American Statesman, local radio, and television. The HEAT program should also get a boost when we provide flyers in the Statesman: »This allows citizens to mail in HEAT registrations for the vehicles as opposed to having them attend a HEAT event

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l Our Community Outreach personnel will give auto theft prevention information to local civic groups, places of worship and businesses l Many victims of auto thefts are Spanish Speakers »We will provide them with literature in Spanish and conduct public service announcements on Spanish radio l ATIP will establish a 24-hour tip line for residents to report activities such as, “chop shops” and the suspicious buying or selling of auto thefts l ATIP is developing a web-site that contains auto theft prevention information, hot spots and a list of the most frequently stolen vehicles.

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l I will approach the Texas Department of Transportation for supplemental grant funding to purchase more equipment to increase our fleet of bait-vehicles. l We will use seized funds to purchase more bait- vehicles and surveillance equipment l Armed with this new technology we will saturate hotspot areas with the latest technology that law enforcement has to combat auto thefts.

Respond Select Strategies and Take Action l We have identified certain hot spots in the Northeast Area Command as the worst locations, in the worst districts, in the worst area of the city for auto thefts. »We will assist the Northeast Street Response Units, who are utilizing zero tolerance enforcement measures in the area. »We will make “cool cars” and surveillance equipment available to assist them »Soon, we will provide them with bait vehicles that should remove many of the auto thieves in their area from the general population. l Our community Outreach personnel will also help the District Representatives set up neighborhood watch programs in the target area. We will attempt to establish similar programs in each Area based on the unique needs of the Command.

Assess Provide a basis for gathering data Relate Findings to the initial problem

Assess Provide a Basis for Gathering Data… l The auto theft rate will be the overall measure of effectiveness for this plan. The results of which may be measured on a monthly or quarterly basis. Data will be collected and analyzed to include the following:  Number of arrests of juveniles and adults  Number of criminal cases filed  Number of salvage inspections and vehicles inspected  Number of HEAT registrations  Number of public service presentations  Number and value of vehicles stolen/recovered  Number of VIN etchings