Auto Theft and Detecting Chop Shop Locations (From Atlas of Crime: Mapping the Criminal Landscape, P 60-67, 2000, Linda S. Turnbull, Elaine Hallisey Hendrix, eds, et al., -- See NCJ-193465

• NCJ Number: 193472
• Author(s): Nancy G. La Vigne; Jill K. Fleury; Joseph Szakas
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Oryx Press
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter examines the spatial patterns of stolen cars from their point of origin to the chop shop.

Abstract

The rate of auto theft has increased significantly over the last 40 years, although rates have declined from 1991 through 1997. Nationally, auto theft rates vary by region, with distinct concentrations found along the West Coast and States bordering on Texas. Border States have historically been plagued by higher auto theft rates due to the relative ease in which stolen vehicles and parts can be exported. A downward trend in juvenile involvement in auto theft suggests that the crime has become more organized in nature and has shifted focus away from joyriding toward theft for the purpose of selling parts. These organized efforts involve offenders stealing specific car makes and models and driving these vehicles to chop shops, where they are dismantled and the parts are sold on the black market. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow law enforcement agencies to establish a platform for automated mapping and to undertake more advanced analysis of spatial components. The distance-decay theory suggests that if a person is searching for a target and several targets are in his or her proximity, then, all else being equal, the person will choose the closest target. The rational choice perspective is consistent with the distance-decay premise, that individuals base their decisions upon micro-economic principles of cost-benefit analysis. It is suggested that the location of chop shops from which the majority of vehicles are recovered will be closest in distance to the point from which the car was stolen. Data for analysis contained information on stolen automobiles over a 7 year period from 1991 to 1997. Results indicated that where the car was stolen and its recovery were valuable in determining two potentially important spatial components: distance and direction. This research highlights the merits of using GIS to identify patterns and to assist in auto theft investigations. The use of distance alone to guide search methods for likely chop shop locations appears to be a powerful predictive variable. 9 figures, 15 references