“Respond to a stolen auto that just occurred”
This is what went out over the APD police radio an average of 2.6 times a day in 2018. It has been said an average of 2.7 times a day for the first 17 days of January. In 2018, the Amarillo Police Department made 950 stolen auto reports. This number might be alarming to some, but what we find more alarming is the number of those that were left running or with the keys in them. 830, that is 87% of the stolen vehicles in Amarillo for 2018 that were either left running or had the keys left in them. So far in 2019 APD has made 46 stolen auto reports. Of those 46, 42 have either been left running or the keys were left in them. The Amarillo Police Department and the Panhandle Auto Burglary and Theft Unit have put out numerous reports of this happening in our city. It is no secret that we have criminals out every day looking to take advantage of the one time you leave your vehicle running or accidentally leave the keys in it. We are not victim blaming and don’t want anyone to think that APD is in any way saying these crimes are anyone’s fault but the criminal, but we can all work together to at least make it harder for them and bring these numbers down. It is convenient to get into a warm or cool car during inclement or hot weather, but is it worth taking the chance of walking outside to find that your vehicle has been stolen? APD and PABTU would ask that you never leave your vehicle running while unattended, and that you never leave your key or a spare key in your vehicle or even in one that is parked by it. Just by doing these two simple things we can all work towards lowering the number of stolen vehicles in our city.
