Data Story: Low Motor Vehicle Theft Clearance Rates Reflect National Trend
12/14/2023
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is beginning a new “Data Stories” series that will take a deeper look at data surrounding important topics that generate high levels of interest. Each installment is meant to educate and provide greater context on complex topics beyond what appears in daily news coverage.
Motor Vehicle Theft: Low Clearance Rates Reflect National Trend
Since 2019, clearance rates (the number of reported incidents solved by police) have dropped across the country. As this recent piece in the New York Times from a crime data analyst
points out, this decline in clearance rate has been seen in both large cities and in smaller counties and towns – even as violent crime has dropped.
There are many possible reasons for
While violent crime has decreased since 2020, there has been a significant increase in auto thefts in Hennepin County and around the country. The first years of the pandemic saw a modest increase in motor vehicle thefts, but a 2021 viral social media video explaining how to quickly steal a Kia or Hyundai led to two years of significant increases in these crimes.
While carjackings are down in 2023 in Hennepin County, different challenges exist for addressing motor vehicle theft.
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Reduced staffing levels in police departments have made it more difficult for law enforcement to keep up with increased case counts. Additionally, motor vehicle thefts are notoriously challenging cases to solve.
Only 2.7 percent of all vehicle thefts reported in Hennepin County are sent to the County Attorney’s Office to review for potential charges. Since research indicates a police force’s ability to solve crimes is a more effective deterrent than harsher punishment, correcting this downward trend must be a priority.
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There are many reasons these cases are challenging. To solve a case, law enforcement needs to gather sufficient evidence to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that a specific person actually stole the car. Being present in a stolen vehicle is not enough and finding evidence that a specific individual is the person who stole the car is difficult for many reasons -- three are listed below.
1. Culprits are rarely caught in the act.
Because vehicles can be stolen extremely quickly (sometimes within 90 seconds or less), catching someone while they are committing the crime doesn’t happen very often.
2. Culprits frequently abandon stolen cars.
Cars are often recovered only after they have been abandoned. While the car may be returned to its rightful owner, there is not someone physically present to charge with stealing it.
3. Motor vehicle thefts often involve groups of young people.
Even when law enforcement does catch up to a stolen car still in the possession of those who stole it, the group frequently ditches the car and flees before officers or other witnesses can see who is driving. Critically, a person’s mere presence in a stolen vehicle is not sufficient evidence to prove they stole it.
These are just a few of the many reasons that make motor vehicle theft cases so difficult for law enforcement to solve. By partnering more closely with law enforcement, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office seeks to assist by ensuring accountability in cases that are solved and taking proactive steps to address auto-theft related behavior when possible.
What Does That Mean?
Accountability and consequences are most effective when they arrive quickly after the bad behavior. When cases are solved and submitted for charging, the County Attorney’s Office is making charging decisions in auto-theft related cases much more quickly. For example:
Situation: A youth is arrested on an auto-theft related incident, admitted to the juvenile detention center, but is ultimately released.
HCAO Action: A charging decision will be made by the County Attorney’s Office within one business day and a court date will be scheduled within three business days.
Situation: A youth is arrested on an auto-theft related incident but not admitted to the juvenile detention center.
HCAO Action: A charging decision will be made by the County Attorney’s Office within five business days.
In 2022, the average time it took to charge a juvenile following an arrest was 22 days . From June through August of 2023, it dropped to 4.8 days. This means youth charged with motor vehicle theft are feeling the consequences of their delinquent behavior much more quickly than they ever have.
Early Intervention Initiative
While it is important to charge the cases we do receive quickly , as noted above, only a small percentage of motor vehicle theft incidents are solved and submitted to the County Attorney’s Office for charging. While police often have some idea of who committed the theft, they can have difficulty establishing sufficient evidence to submit a criminal case for charging.
That’s why the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office launched the early intervention initiative – a new approach aimed at intervening with kids that police know are engaged in troubling behavior but who have yet to be charged in court.
In partnership with law enforcement partners throughout the county, the youth auto theft early intervention initiative was created to interrupt troubling behavior before it requires official involvement in the justice system.
How Does It Work?
The initiative is structured in three steps:
1. Local law enforcement knows the kids who have been involved in negative behavior but may not have enough evidence to refer a case to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) for charging. Law enforcement instead passes the name of the child to the County Attorney’s Office.
2. HCAO screens the child to determine their eligibility for participation in the early intervention initiative.
3. If eligible, a county social worker contacts the family of the child to begin the intervention and open the discussion about resources and support to successfully interrupt the behavior.
What Challenges Exist?
Involving so many partners always creates challenges, especially in regards to data sharing and measurement. Through efficient collaboration and consistent communication, like monthly meetings between the County Attorney and local law enforcement leaders, many of those challenges can be overcome.
What Will We Monitor?
Some of the most important measurements are about what doesn’t happen. Preventing harm is the ultimate goal which means the group that receives support should have fewer cases referred to HCAO for charging than a similar group.
Another goal is to prevent escalation in behavior so the speed at which that escalation occurs is a valuable metric. If it takes an increasingly long time for behavior to escalate, that would be considered a positive marker.
It’s also critical to have a high rate of success in contacting families of children headed down the wrong path as identified by law enforcement. Similarly, when law enforcement sends cases to HCAO, making charging decisions faster is a key focus.
How Is It Working?
The data sample is small but promising. Since launch, 121 kids have been referred from 14 different law enforcement agencies in Hennepin County. Of the kids deemed eligible, 93 percent of the families have been contacted.
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