The National Insurance Crime Bureau (“NICB”) has released its annual “Hot Spots” vehicle theft report, and California dominates once again.
The report is a per capita review of vehicle thefts from the nation's metropolitan statistical areas (“MSAs”). The NICB data was in line with preliminary FBI vehicle theft data for 2012, which appeared to end an eight-year downward trend in vehicle theft.
Final numbers will be published by the FBI in the fall, but preliminary 2012 FBI figures estimated a 1.3 percent increase in 2012 thefts from the previous year. Eight of the top 10 areas were in California, with the remaining two from the state of Washington.
The West region, defined by the FBI as the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, saw a 10.6 percent increase in vehicle thefts from 2011. The other regions of the country—Midwest, Northeast, and South—reported reductions of 3.1, 7.9, and 2.9 percent, respectively.
For 2012, the 10 MSAs with the highest vehicle theft rates were:
| 2012 Ranking | 2011 Ranking | |
| 1 | Modesto, Calif. | 2 |
| 2 | Fresno, Calif. | 1 |
| 3 | Bakersfield-Delano, Calif. | 3 |
| 4 | Stockton, Calif. | 7 |
| 5 | Yakima, Wash. | 5 |
| 6 | San Francisco/Oakland/Hayward, Calif. | 6 |
| 7 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. | 20 |
| 8 | Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif. | 9 |
| 9 | Spokane-Spokane Valley, Wash. | 4 |
| 10 | Redding, Calif. | 40 |
The NICB report examined vehicle theft data obtained from the National Crime Information Center (“NCIC”) for each of the nation's MSAs. MSAs are designated by the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) and often include areas much larger than the cities for which they are named. For example, the Modesto, California, MSA includes all thefts within the entire county of Stanislaus, not just the city of Modesto.
As a population-based survey, an area with a much smaller population and a moderate number of thefts can—and often does—have a higher theft rate than an area with a much more significant vehicle theft problem and a larger population to absorb it.
Learn more: www.nicb.org.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].