15 ways to spot a stolen car

15 Ways to Spot a
Stolen Car
By Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.)
Copyright 2013 Raymond E. Foster

Inside the Car #15
Does the driver have keys? While a few high-end cars have
a push button start, most cars require a key in the ignition to
start the vehicle. As you‟re on patrol, and particularly when
you are stopped for a light, develop the habit of looking
through your driver‟s side window and through the
passenger‟s window of the vehicle next to you. Do they
have a key? Is the steering column intact? What is in plain
sight from this typical vantage point?

Lights #14
The reason the person is driving without lights might be that
the steering column has been damaged. When a steering
column has been damaged, the headlights and turn signal
lights might malfunction. I have seen vehicles with a
damaged steering column that caused the bright lights to be
stuck on. The point is that your equipment violation may be
more than just a fix-it ticket. The better you get at this, the
more specific knowledge you‟ll have.

Age #13
What may draw you attention to a potentially stolen car is
the age of the driver. Imagine you are stopped at a traffic
light. There are two cars a head of you. Both have
taillights out, one driver appears to be 30 and the other
appears to be 15. Clearly, you are going to conduct the
traffic stop on the younger driver. Would a reasonable
person of similar training and experience think that person
was too young to drive? If so, you are building your
reasonable suspicion.

Area #12
There are two distinct areas that improve your chances of
locating a stolen car. The first is areas where cars are taken from
and the areas they are dropped. The first should be obvious. If
you have an increase in either stolen or recovered vehicles in a
specific area, you are near a fishing hole. The second less
obvious, is to go where other crime occurs. Any area on your
beat where you have a narcotics problem is likely to have a
greater percentage of stolen cars. Also, research indicates you
need two things for the likelihood of a crime to occur - young
men and alcohol. Seriously, that‟s hard research data. You get
both elements at bars. Make bar parking lots and surrounding
areas places at which you hunt for stolen cars. Add to bars, low-
end motels and I will wager that if you consistently check the
plates on the cars in the bar and low-end motel parking lots you
will find stolen cars.

Ask #11
Developing informants, especially citizen informants, is the
hallmark of a great beat cop. Throughout the last seasons of
the HBO television show the Wire there is a Middle School
kid who loves cars. More importantly, he loves to steal
them. It is a running joke in the neighborhood. Everyone,
except the police, knows the kid steals cars. When you talk
to people, ask them about crime - dope, money, guns, who
is wanted (or thinks they are wanted) and add stolen cars to
the list of your questions.

Memorize #10
• You don‟t need to memorize the plate of every stolen car, but if
you can remember enough to jog your memory - at the right
time - you will make great observation arrests. Go into
records, detectives and listen to the watch commander. On
freshly stolen cars, memorize just enough. As an example, if I
told you a vehicle with the plate 2NMG187 was stolen, could
you memorize the plate and recall it throughout your shift as
hundreds of cars passed you? You would be more likely to
remember pieces of information you can relate to other
information. With that plate, I would memorize one of two
things 1) NMG - No More God. Now, throughout the shift,
every plate with NMG would draw my attention. 2) 187 is the
California Penal Code Section for murder. Again, every plate
with 187 would come to my attention. Try attaching parts of
the plate to some other piece of information and then using that
as a pointer.

License Plates #9
Over the years, this has become more complex. It used to
be fairly simple: old cars can have new plates but new cars
can‟t have old plates. Before the barrage of vanity plates,
plates were issued primarily by series. This is still, to some
degree, solid information. In most states, you can tell what
year a plate was issued by the number. So, if a new car had
a plate that was issued five years ago, it was likely “cold
plated.” Paying attention to the series is still good cop
work. Moreover, plates that aren‟t securely attached, the
light is out or perhaps the number is partially obscured, bear
a closer look.

VINs #8
There are any number of “cheat sheets” you can buy that
will tell you where secondary and hidden VINS are located.
In your kit bag, carry a little degreasing substance, a dirty
rag and a mirror and you are on your way to becoming an
expert. If you are impounding a car anyway, check the
secondary and hidden VINS. A couple of minutes extra
work could lead to an excellent arrest.

Stickers #7
I include vanity plates under the general term “stickers” as
in “bumper stickers.” People put these individual markings
on their cars as a way to tell you something about
themselves. If I saw a “Pearl Harbor Survivor” vanity plate
on a car being driven by a 20-something, I would take a
second look. Yes, they could be driving grandpa‟s car. It‟s
not enough for a traffic stop - but, it is enough to take a
closer look. There are sorts of these stickers - imagine you
see an “Obama/Biden for President” bumper sticker. As
you pass the car, you note the driver has an Aryan Brother
tattoo on his neck. Is this his car? Again, it doesn‟t mean
the car is stolen, but it‟s worth a cop‟s double-take.

Black and White Fever #6
It‟s not a crime to avoid the police. But, sometimes there is
a reason people are avoiding you. Hopefully, you have
already learned that the best patrol speed is slightly below
the speed limit and in the right-hand most lane. You simply
see more and have more time to react. As you patrol, watch
the rearview mirror. Lots of people aren‟t going to want to
pass you; I watched the people who didn‟t pass and then
made the earliest right-hand turn. I made the next right,
sped up slightly and often met them at the next cross street.
You can tell a lot by a driver‟s reaction to you suddenly
appearing.

Driver Unfamiliarity #5
Because I am unfamiliar with the car, whenever I rent a car
I have a terrible time with the bright lights and the
windshield wipers. They are sometimes combined on the
same gadget. The point is that if someone acts as if they are
new to the car, they are new to the car. The most egregious
example you may find is some attempting to drive a manual
transmission who clearly can‟t. This is an excellent time to
reiterate that unfamiliarity doesn‟t mean the car is stolen. I
didn‟t steal the rentals, but have activated the turn signals
instead of the wipers on many occasions.

Rental Cars #4
Stolen rental cars can be somewhat complex investigations.
Unless the company has reported the car stolen, the
company is likely to consider it overdue and not be helpful
in assisting with prosecution. However, they are usually
worth a second look. Perhaps not a traffic stop, but a look
at the driver and a check of the plate is a good expense of
time and energy. Of course, if you work around a tourist
destination such as an airport, rentals maybe fairly common.

Hard Driving #3
Just as we are sometimes unfamiliar with the operation of a
rental car we also might not treat rentals as we would our
own cars. It is the same for car thieves. Hard driving will
likely lead to some type of traffic violation and your entry
into a stop. Additionally, illegally and oddly parked
vehicles are a clue that the driver was inattentive and/or just
didn‟t care. Before you hang that parking cite on an
unattended vehicle, check the plate. As you cruise through
your local parking lots, newer cars that are parked in some
unusual manner, like very close to another car thus risking
dents, are candidates for a second look.

Ducks can Fly #2
As you get better at honing in on vehicles based on the first
12 tactics of this article, you will find more unattended
stolen vehicles - sitting ducks or just plain ducks. If you
spot an unattended vehicle and it turns out to be stolen don‟t
assume it has been abandoned. It‟s a developed talent to
drift by a car, pick up the plate and run it without burning
the car. If you don‟t burn it (alerting the suspects to your
presence and knowledge) you have a decision to make.
Impound or surveillance. This decision will be driven by a
number of factors such as your department policy, radio
calls in the queue, availability of a place of concealment and
so on. The point is that just because you have a duck
doesn‟t mean you don‟t necessarily have an arrest.

Chops Shops #1
Many professional car thieves tow cars and often the thefts are
based on orders. As an example, if you find a stripped 88 Honda
Accord in alley, cruise around and see if you can find an auto
repair shop working on a similar vehicle. Take a close look at
your state‟s vehicle code. It likely gives you a lot of leeway with
respect to towing companies and auto repair shops. If you are a
municipal police officer or sheriff‟s deputy, corner a state
highway patrol officer or trooper. Either a state highway patrol
officer or trooper are likely really knowledgeable on exactly what
you can do and what constitutes probable cause with tow trucks
and auto repair shops. Moreover, if you have a detective in your
agency that specializes in auto theft investigations, talk to that
person. The main point is while you are talking to auto theft
experts, tow truck drivers and auto repair shop owners you will
gain significantly more experience than you could ever pick up
from a PowerPoint presentation!

About the Author
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.) retired from the
Los Angeles Police Department. He is the author or co-
author of six books including Police Technology and
Leadership: Texas Hold „em Style. He can be contacted
through his website at www.police-lieutenant.com

15 ways to spot a stolen car

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

En vedette

En vedette (10)

Plus de Hi Tech Criminal Justice

Plus de Hi Tech Criminal Justice (17)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

15 ways to spot a stolen car