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Thread: 'Cars Are Getting Stolen Every Day,' Ramsey Says

  1. #1
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    'Cars Are Getting Stolen Every Day,' Ramsey Says





    By Del Quentin Wilber
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Tuesday, June 21, 2005; B08


    <NITF>Wanted: Stolen car. Make and model: Ford Crown Victoria. Owner: D.C. police department.

    Reported stolen by: Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey.

    So goes the saga of car theft in the District, where even the police chief's department-issued car can get swiped a block from his home.

    "There is not a whole lot to add to it," Ramsey said. "The car was taken, and there was nothing of real value in it. Cars are getting stolen every day."

    D.C. police officials said Ramsey's black unmarked car was stolen between Friday night and Sunday morning from a street in Southwest Washington. It had been left there Friday by a member of the force's motor pool so Ramsey would have it when he returned from a one-week trip to a counter-terrorism conference in Scotland.

    Ramsey arrived home early Sunday. When he awoke to go to church later that morning, he couldn't find the black Crown Victoria, and he and his wife went to church in her personal car, he said.

    The chief said initially he thought there was simply a misunderstanding about where the motor pool officer had left the car. But yesterday morning, after another fruitless search for the vehicle, he concluded that it had been stolen.

    Police officials said they do not believe the thieves knew they were taking the police chief's car. No weapons were left in the Crown Victoria, but it was equipped with a police radio. Its trunk contained a large duffle bag filled with some of the chief's riot gear, police said.

    Union officials said the chief should be investigated for leaving the gear unattended because officers would be disciplined in a similar situation, a claim that the chief denied.

    "It's embarrassing," said Sgt. Gregory I. Greene, chairman of the D.C. police labor committee for Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1. "The chief is responsible for his own equipment."

    D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the council's Judiciary Committee, said the theft of Ramsey's unmarked car shows how serious the area's auto theft problem has become.

    "People are going to say, 'If the chief's car is stolen, how do I know that my car is safe?' " Mendelson said. "This just points to the fact that lots of cars are stolen in the city."

    A few hours after Ramsey reported the theft, investigators passed out fliers to commanders and other supervisors that described the missing Crown Victoria, which has District tags AL-6072. Although police do not distribute fliers for most stolen cars, investigators said they routinely do so when departmental vehicles are pinched.

    Ramsey and other police officials said the theft of the car is not indicative of crime trends, which show auto theft dropping substantially in the city.

    Through mid-June, police recorded 2,759 auto thefts, down 29 percent from the 3,880 tallied during the same period last year. In all of last year, 8,136 cars were stolen in the District -- a decrease of almost 15 percent from the 9,549 car thefts recorded in 2003, according to FBI statistics.

    Ramsey is not the area's only top law enforcement official to have a car stolen in recent years. The van of Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey was stolen from in front of his house in 2002.

    The county's auto theft rate has almost doubled in the past five years, with 18,485 cars reported stolen in 2004.

  2. #2
    Mad4Macs Guest

    Talking

    Anyone check CrownVic.net yet?

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mad4Macs
    Anyone check CrownVic.net yet?
    Or eBay??
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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Poore
    . Ramsey is not the area's only top law enforcement official to have a car stolen in recent years. The van of Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey was stolen from in front of his house in 2002.

    The county's auto theft rate has almost doubled in the past five years, with 18,485 cars reported stolen in 2004.
    Prince George's County in Maryland has by far the highest rate of auto theft in and around the DC-Baltimore Metro area. The PGC rates are an "order.s of magnitude" over most of the other jurisdictions. What the above ^^^^ article didn't say is that PGC has cut their stolen vehicles by 20% and they are now at some 18,000. That means last year was closer to 22,000.
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    Gotta love good ol' PG County. Becoming more and more like DC every day. hell, it borders pretty much all of NE and SE. Anyone who knows anything about the nation's capital, knows that some of those areas in northeast/southeast dc (Trinidad, Benning Road, MLK, Minnesota Ave, Hechinger Mall, etc, etc) are some of the roughest neighborhoods in America. And as DC tears some of those housing projects down, they all just up and move to the Md side of the border.

    I got pulled over last year on my birthday by Federal Police in downtown Chinatown. They pulled me over because my Vic fit the description of a stolen Fire Dept. Vic out in PG somewhere. I was very polite and cooperative with them, and they still talked to me like I was some thug piece of crap.
    Last edited by THE_INTERCEPTOR; 06-21-2005 at 07:18 AM.
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    Anyone know what weakness the CV has that the theives are exploiting? Would be good to know since our cars are so closely related.

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    Are they even sure someone from "outside" the P.D. took the car?? I'm sure there are more than a couple sets of keys floating around to a fleet issued car like that. I'm sure some of you LEO guys can relate "Hey...isn't that the chief's car?!?... Yeah! What say we drive it away and hide it somewhere and see how the idiots react?" I'm not saying that's what actually happened mind you.... but I've "heard" about that kinda stuff sometimes going on... (I know, it's hard to believe). From the news article it doesn't sound like the upper brass and the union have much love for each other.

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    I heard Canada is pretty bad, Montreal area. Anyone know stats on it up there. I would like to go on vacation threre....but???
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    Quote Originally Posted by pantheroc
    I heard Canada is pretty bad, Montreal area. Anyone know stats on it up there. I would like to go on vacation threre....but???
    I don't know Montreal's statistics, but here in Edmonton, one car is stolen every hour. It's mostly Neon's or old beaters, Minivans or pickups. Easy cars to steal, for joyriding. The bigger ones are used for other crimes, such as a smash and grabs.

    I've never heard of a CV (police, limo or taxi) being stolen.
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    Northern Virginia has spent more time and money on enforcing car thief’s. They have also added high tech bait cars and stiffer sentences then the surrounding jurisdictions. As many car thieves know, Virginia judges don’t play. D.C has only 2 full time car detectives and about 1000 + missing vehicles per year. Do the math; the criminals have figured this out. Like water, they find the least path of resistance
    Last edited by merc; 06-21-2005 at 03:41 PM.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr Caleb
    I don't know Montreal's statistics, but here in Edmonton, one car is stolen every hour.
    As long as they keep stealing that same car, the others ought to be pretty safe. Why don't they just watch that one car and see who is doing it ??
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  12. #12
    No PATS key on the "fleet" crown vics.......


  13. #13
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    It's probably a D.C. Taxi by now.
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  14. #14
    twolow Guest
    It may have been unmarked but whoever stole it had to have known. Rims, antenna, radio between the seats, government plates...it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it's a police cruiser. I would be too worried it was a bait car and was being watched if I was a thief.

    I agree that it may have been a prank...time will tell.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bluerauder
    As long as they keep stealing that same car, the others ought to be pretty safe. Why don't they just watch that one car and see who is doing it ??
    You'd think they could catch the guy, don'cha?

    Quote Originally Posted by merc
    D.C has only 2 full time car detectives and about 1000 + missing vehicles per year. Do the math; the criminals have figured this out. Like water, they find the least path of resistance
    Exactally the problem here. The team that used to head up auto theft got cut and most of the officers re-assigned to the gang and serial killer units. Only *now* are the feds thinking about making auto theft an actual crime.

    Yes. You read right. Stealing a car here is not a crime all by itself. It's 'posession of stolen property over $5000' (unless it's a Lada, then it's 'community improvement'). More and more of these 'joyrides' are resulting in high speed chases that lead to the death of uninvolved civillians.
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