Vehicles Are Flying Out of Denver Airport Parking Lots...With Thieves Behind the Wheels

Kevin Griffitts parked his truck in the East Garage at Denver International Airport early March 4, then caught an 8:30 a.m. flight. When he returned on March 7, his beloved Ford F-150 Shelby was gone.

“It's something I dreamed about having since I was fourteen years old, and I'm now 52,” Griffitts says. “Losing it was a little bit hard to face.”

Griffitts, who works for a telecommunications company, spent three hours looking for "Beast Truck," as he'd nicknamed the vehicle. He checked every inch of the parking garage and even used the airport’s courtesy shuttle that will drive people around airport lots to find their vehicles. “We checked everywhere on the second floor of the parking structure on the east and west side,” Griffitts recalls.

Finally, he gave up hope and called the police. While he was filing his report, officers told him that a lot of Ford trucks had been stolen from the airport lately. He learned that records are kept of every license plate on a vehicle parked at the airport but that his wasn’t recorded, indicating that the truck had been stolen soon after he parked, before there was time for a patrol to circle and note its location.

“I believe that with that many [Ford trucks] being stolen, the public needs to know, and that'll help the Denver airport feel the need to tighten up security,” Griffitts says.

According to Stephanie Figueroa, public information officer for the airport, it's already taking steps to safeguard the 40,000 on-site public parking spaces. “The airport and [the Denver Police Department] teamed up to increase patrols around DEN public parking areas, but with so much ground to cover, we ask that passengers be extra vigilant when parking their cars,” Figueroa says.

She also encourages people to call 303-342-4211, the direct line to DPD at the airport, to report any suspicious activity.

As for how thieves can get stolen vehicles through gated lots that have cashier booths, the DPD is keeping mum. "There are different ways they could be stolen," the department says. "In the interest of public safety, we do not want to discuss the methods in which they are taken."

But they are definitely being taken: Last September, a study conducted by the Common Sense Institute found that Colorado has the highest rate of motor vehicle thefts in the country. So far in 2023, there have been 108 car thefts at the airport, out of a total 2,568 car thefts in the city. The top Denver locations for stolen car reports are the Pikes Peak Shuttle Lot, with 43 reports, followed by La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham at the airport, with 16. An apartment complex comes in third, and there’s a three-way tie for fourth between the East and West garages at the airport and the RTD Central Park Station, each of which report twelve car thefts.

Seven of the top ten most-stolen cars in Denver this year are made by Kia or Hyundai, with Chevy Silverados as the second-most-stolen vehicle. Ford F-150s and Ford F-250s come in at eighth and ninth; each account for about 5 percent of the cars stolen in Denver this year.

These trends track closely with the numbers from 2022, when 460 cars were stolen at the airport out of 14,988 total vehicles stolen across Denver. And given the size of the airport police district, an unusually high number of thefts are occurring there: The RTD Central Park station registered 104 car thefts last year, with the Pikes Peak lot coming in second at 89; the East and West garages were tied for third with 83.

The DPD is working to stop car theft not just at the airport, but across the city, rolling out the DenverTrack program, an optional car-tracking program that citizens can sign up for if they have a location device in their vehicle.

Both the airport and the police offer car theft prevention tips. Aside from basics like rolling up all windows, locking the car, never leaving a running car unattended, and parking in well-lit, busy areas, the DPD suggests adding an alarm system, steering wheel lock or in-door lock protection device, and also removing all belongings, particularly in high-risk cars like Ford trucks.

Griffitts has his own car-theft prevention suggestion for those heading to the airport: “Pay for the Uber.”

Had he known about the high rate of thefts, particularly of his type of vehicle, he says he would have found another way to the airport. “If I had been aware that that was the case, I would have parked somewhere else or taken the shuttle,” he notes. “Anything but leave my truck where it was. At this point, in hindsight, I feel like I literally just left the keys in the driver's seat and said, ‘Here you go.’”