The Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority (CAPTA), a Department of Public Safety agency founded in 2003 to help reduce auto theft, has created an online tool that visually reveals the scope of the problem: a heat map accessible at the Lock Down Your Car website. The map allows users to look across the state at where car thefts have occurred, and it reveals that all of metro Denver qualifies as a hot spot.
According to Cale Gould, a program assistant at CAPTA, the map "represents year-to-date data for the calendar year 2022. It is automatically refreshed with a data push every fifteen days." The map's color guide uses blue to mark areas with the lowest level of theft, escalating to aquamarine, green, yellow and red — the hue that covers greater Denver in the following screen capture.
By zooming in on the map, you can see where a car was stolen on streets in specific neighborhoods. "Each dot represents an incident of motor-vehicle theft," Gould explains, "and the green dots with red centers are a cluster of incidents at the same address or relative area. The farther out you zoom, the more generalization the heat map does to show groupings. By that I mean if you zoom into a near-street view, the incidents don't have the layering applied, so you won't see a cluster of red in, say, a single parking lot. It'll be a spattering of green incidents unless there were, in fact, several incidents at a single address."
By way of example, look at this close-up of RiNo and surrounding areas; the map reveals multiple car thefts on many blocks. By our count, more than 100 vehicles have been stolen to date this year in this popular but relatively compact section of the city.
CAPTA's latest update is not yet complete, but the agency has released a list of the ten most stolen vehicles in the metro area from July 1-September 30. The roster includes four Kia models and three types of Hyundais, as well as the Chevrolet Silverado, the Ford F-250 and the GMC Sierra. The total thefts of these vehicles alone add up to 2,845 over three months.
The agency offers the following tips to prevent your particular vehicle from adding to the total:
• Never leave your car running unattended.
• Always keep your car doors locked, when driving or parked.
• Always park in well-lit areas.
• Don’t store firearms in your car.
• Avoid leaving documents with your address in glove box. (Only keep the half of the registration slip without your address in your car.)
• Don’t keep a spare set of keys in the car.
• Keep all valuables in the trunk or hidden from view.
• If you are approached, do not roll down the windows or open a door.
• When buying a used vehicle, always check the VIN to ensure it hasn’t been stolen.
• Manage your risk: Buy comprehensive insurance that covers stolen vehicles. Also consider getting gap insurance.
