"A lot of other major cities are still seeing an uptick in auto theft," Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto said during a recent interview. "We're seeing a huge decline, 41% just year to date. That's over 1,000 cars fewer than last year."
Casto confirms the decline follows a targeted effort by her officers, including a specialized team.
"It looks like plainclothes officers," Casto said. "It looks like uniformed officers, knowing where stolen cars are dropped, spending time in those areas."
The Career Criminal Auto Theft Team has 12 detectives.
Doug Goertzen is one of two undercover sergeants. Action News agreed not to show his face.
"We are out being proactive, proactively looking for stolen cars (and) auto thieves," he said.
Action News joined the sergeant for several hours Tuesday as his team looked for stolen vehicles throughout the city.
"What are you looking for?" Action News asked.
"Mostly Kias and Hyundais right now because they're the highest or the most common(ly) stolen in the city," Sgt. Goertzen said.
Technology allows police to stay ahead of the criminals. The department has real-time access to license plate readers at popular shopping centers.
"If a stolen car were to drive through River Park, we would get a notification on that, and we would respond up there," Sgt. Goertzen said.
The ride-along did not turn up any stolen vehicles. Goertzen believes it is a sign that the policing is working.
"We drove around for a few hours and had a hard time finding any, so it is getting harder to find the stolen cars, which is a positive," he said.
In 14 years, Fresno has fallen more than 20 spots.
But, there are still thousands of stolen vehicles. Over 1,400 so far this year, Sgt. Goertzen said, which is about six per day.
"We have some very talented people here," Chief Casto said. "We leverage that talent and their hard work with technology, and we'll stop at nothing to stop a criminal who is victimizing our city."
Steering wheel locks are available for free at the Fresno Police Department.
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