Centennial State News

Colorado is setting records as its motor vehicle theft crisis continues.

Colorado, ranked No. 1 in America for motor vehicle theft in 2021, continues to lead the nation this year in motor vehicle theft, Common Sense Institute said.

“In the first six months of 2022 (January – June), the motor vehicle theft rate increased another 17.2%,” Common Sense Institute said.

The state’s motor vehicle theft rates nearly doubled, from 377 to 637 per 100,000 residents, between 2019 and 2021, Denver City Wire reported.

“Colorado's car theft rate is more than twice the national average, soaring when the national rate has remained flat (246/100,000 residents),” Denver City Wire reported.

Colorado Metropolitan Auto Task Force data found that 36,907 vehicles were stolen statewide in 2021, over 100 a day, The Gazette reported. Motor vehicle theft may exceed 48,000 in 2022, Common Sense Institute said.

According to the Insurance Information Institute and the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Denver-Aurora-Lakewood ranked third with 21,112 vehicles stolen and Pueblo ranked seventh with 1,023 vehicles stolen among the top 10 worst metro areas for motor vehicles stolen in 2020.

QuoteWizard.com ranked five Colorado cities among the 10 worst in the U.S. Denver ranks second with 1,285 vehicles stolen annually per 100,000 people; Aurora, fourth, with 1,035 vehicles stolen; Westminster, fifth, 934; Pueblo, seventh, 869; and Lakewood, 10th, 748. Denver metro averages 100 car thefts each day, 9News said. The city of Denver sees a car theft every hour.

“So far in 2022, four Colorado cities rank in the top 10 in the United States for motor vehicle thefts (out of 185 cities), including Denver (2), Aurora (3), Westminster (8) and Pueblo (9),” the Common Sense Institute said. “These four cities combined, account for 53.3% of the vehicles stolen statewide in the first quarter of 2022.”

In a Feb. 10 letter to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, state law enforcement leaders blamed “recent legislation and policy changes” for increases in “crime rates and struggles to recruit and retain officers.”

“The General Assembly has passed several bills, which you have signed into law, that make crime prevention more difficult, and prioritize offenders over victims and public safety,” the letter from the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, Colorado Fraternal Order of Police and County Sheriffs of Colorado said. “The inability to arrest and hold offenders results in offenders continuing to commit criminal acts, often escalating the severity of their crimes, and putting victims in fear of becoming revictimized.”

Polis did not respond to a request for comment.

Officials with Polis’ administration blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors such as drivers not checking on vehicles for the surge in car theft in 2020. 

A report by the state's Auto Theft Intelligence Coordination Center said, “The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent efforts by state and local governments to mitigate the spread of the disease are evident and reflect in the calendar year 2020 and 2021 auto theft statistics.”

“Auto theft in 2020 increased 40%, however increased by 31% in 2021,” the report said.

But Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen, who recently announced his retirement, told The Denver Gazette that changes to state law “that downgraded penalties for motor vehicle theft” are to blame.

“Please tell me how a virus makes people commit more crimes, makes people steal more cars, increases the number of shootings we have?” Pazen told CPR News.