It's no secret that Colorado has been at the top when it comes to the number of auto thefts in the country.
While cars are often recovered and returned to victims here, the chances that someone will be held accountable are low.
Busy mom Lora McCabe knows that firsthand.
She left her apartment early one morning in May, only to find an empty parking space.
"I was in shock," she told CBS News Colorado.
Her mind started racing.
"'How am I going to get them to school? How am I going to get groceries? How am I going to take them to their therapies?' because they are both in therapy, 'how am I going to get them to their doctor appointment? How am I going to take care of my kids,'" she thought.
With two special needs children, her vehicle was a critical part of her day.
"We are struggling already, you know, and to have something like that -- I saved for a long time to be able to purchase my vehicle," she said.
Her name is now added to a growing list of auto theft victims in and around the Denver metro area.
"Over the last 12 to 18 months, that would be fair to say that we were seeing just numbers that we have not experienced uhm... in recent memory," Denver Police Lt. Ryan Harris said.
While most vehicles are recovered in Colorado, often found dumped on the side of the road, our investigation found that thieves are usually long gone.
Of the 14,364 thefts in Denver in 2022, arrests were made in less than 1,000, roughly 7%.
"You have an 82% recovery but 5% to 7% arrest rate, would you like to see that number closer?" CBS Colorado Investigator Karen Morfitt asked.
"Absolutely." Harris answered.
We looked at the last five years of theft data, which shows that arrest rate has remained under ten percent.
Harris acknowledges when it comes to arrests there's work to be done.
"When we look at the clearance rate has kind of stayed it's a hard crime to prove, especially when we get cars that are unoccupied recoveries there's a lot of investigative challenges with that, so our clearance rate is not where we want it to be, but I think we are at the beginning of an increase," Harris added.
He points to the launch of their "track program," where vehicle owners with a way to track their vehicles register with DPD.
There was also the launch of the Denver Auto Theft Team. For the first time, the department has repurposed detectives to only work on auto theft cases.
"Having a dedicated team -- having a team that is proactively out there, we have been able to make significant arrests, get good leads on cases and, like we said, when we arrest one suspect, we might not be clearing just that one case," Harris said.
That program was extended after an increase in arrests in the first three months.
Harris says they want to add to that progress, saying they are looking to other departments for ideas: "It's a combination of three things; people, innovation and community."
Jack Cauley is the chief of the Castle Rock Police Department, where license plate readers have helped increase arrests.
"When a vehicle is stolen and it's in the computer system, that vehicle comes to Castle Rock, we are able to identify the fact that it is a stolen vehicle, that information is given to our dispatchers live. It's also sent out to the police officers in their vehicles live," Cauley said.
The town and private HOAs have invested in the technology as well adding to the number of alerts they are receiving
For McCabe who, after three months, learned her vehicle had been found and was totaled, any hope of holding thieves accountable is fading.
"These thieves, I know they don't care," she said. "They don't understand how much they hurt families."
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October 18, 2023 at 09:00AM
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Denver auto thefts high while arrests lag: "They don't understand how much they hurt families" - CBS Colardo
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