COVID-19 has done little to slow Minneapolis car thieves

Rochelle Diver is pretty sure that her 2011 Chevy Equinox was still parked outside her Uptown Minneapolis apartment when she went to bed last Thursday night.

All she knows is that by the next morning it had vanished.

After reporting the SUV stolen, Diver did some checking of her own and found that several of her neighbors' vehicles also were targeted.

"People just think they can get away with it," she said in an interview Monday.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be keeping people inside and out of certain kinds of trouble, but it has done little to slow car thieves.

Minneapolis statistics show that on average thieves have stolen nearly eight vehicles a day since the statewide stay-home order went into effect March 25.

Auto thefts were already on the upswing before the pandemic hit.

Last year, police reported that 2,873 vehicles were taken citywide, a 70% increase from 2015. That year, 1,682 were stolen.

Through May 3, Minneapolis has reported 1,309 cars, trucks or SUVs stolen, vs. the 845 taken last year, even though the pace of thefts slowed after the lockdown.

Four of the five police precincts have seen their auto-theft numbers increase, compared with this time in 2019. Only downtown has had fewer vehicles taken.

Vehicle break-ins are also up about 45%.

"The majority of auto thefts are committed by younger individuals, juveniles or young adults, and these individuals are less willing to comply with sheltering recommendations regarding COVID-19," department spokesman John Elder said in an e-mail. "In addition, many of the transportation options have been decreased during this pandemic and auto theft at times occurs simply as a form of transportation."

Last year, the Police Department revamped its chase policy, which in most cases no longer allows pursuits of stolen vehicles. Now police increasingly rely on technology to track down the vehicles.

Elder said the new policy was developed with public safety in mind, with hopes of limiting the kind of high-speed chases that sometimes ended with injuries to officers or bystanders.

Other cities have also seen spikes in auto thefts since the novel coronavirus arrived.

Police in El Paso, Texas, sent out a crime alert reporting a 10% increase in the number of cars stolen and 39% increase in car break-ins.

A study of the pandemic's impact on crime in Los Angeles found that social distancing and similar measures had little to no effect on reducing vehicle theft.

The study's authors cited two possible explanations: While people spend more time at home, they can't keep an eye on their vehicles all the time. But, with the pandemic limiting social interaction, criminals might just have less of a need to boost a car or SUV for a ride.

Minneapolis has historically lagged behind other major cities in vehicles stolen per capita.

The days of roving gang members and organized theft rings are largely gone, authorities say. Most of today's thefts are crimes of opportunity, with the cars' owners taking their eyes off their idling vehicles or leaving the keys in the ignition or in an obvious hiding place such as the glove compartment. That makes auto theft more difficult to solve than other crimes.

Thieves also tend to target older models because newer cars often come equipped with GPS trackers or technology that makes the vehicles nearly impossible to start without keys.

Losing the SUV couldn't have come at a worse time for Diver, who like millions of Americans has been struggling to get by since the novel coronavirus struck. She used it to drive to the Fond du Lac Reservation in northeastern Minnesota to care for her grandparents.

And with her boyfriend working long hours most days, she rarely has access to the couple's van.

She believes the thief first broke into the van and found an extra set of keys to the Equinox.

She had accidentally left them in a sweatshirt, she said.

"We noticed the other vehicle had been broken into and things shuffled — it looked like a tornado had gone through there," said Diver, who's reluctant to take the bus out of fear of contracting the virus and spreading it to her grandparents.

Days after the theft, some of the shock had been replaced by frustration after being told that her vehicle was likely taken for a joy ride, and may or may not turn up in a few days.

"It was actually really infuriating that it was being dismissed like that," she said. "During a pandemic like this, I wish that people could just get double penalty."

Frustrated, she posted a plea for help on a community Facebook page for people whose vehicles have been stolen, along with a description.

So far there have been no takers.

Libor Jany • 612-673-4064

Twitter: @StribJany