Centennial State News

A new report on auto theft found that the total value of vehicles stolen in Colorado could reach approximately $848.3 million this year.

The report was put together by the Common Sense Institute (CSI), a free-enterprise think tank, according to The Center Square. The number of auto thefts in Colorado likely will surpass an estimated 48,000 this year – a record high. The total value of stolen vehicles is estimated as between $468.1 million and $848.3 million.

"We are fast approaching $1 billion in stolen vehicles, and Colorado is on track to maintain our number-one ranking as the worst state in the nation when it comes to auto thefts," Mitch Morrissey, a criminal justice fellow for CSI and one of the report’s authors, said. "Soft-on-crime public policies are costing Coloradans billions of dollars, their safety, and their quality of life."

Colorado had the highest auto theft rate in the nation last year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, as reported by The Center Square. There were 661 thefts per 100,000 people. The CSI report noted that auto theft has steadily increased every year since 2010. The report correlated the rise in auto theft with a 2014 law that decreased the penalties for property theft, which includes auto theft.

"Motor vehicle theft is treated as a 'low level' crime by Colorado's criminal justice system," the CSI report said, according to The Center Square. "Unless there are significant changes in the way the car theft epidemic is tackled, the quality and safety of Colorado will continue to decline."

Denver's auto theft rate was reported as 964 thefts per 100,000 people – the second highest in the country, behind Bakersfield, CA, The Center Square noted. Three other Colorado cities cracked the top 10, with Aurora, Westminster, and Pueblo at third, eighth, and ninth respectively, according to the CSI report, which used data from the FBI.