Thieves warm to idea of autos left idling

Charles Williamson had left his new Yukon Denali unlocked with the keys on the dash for only a couple of minutes outside his Lynnwood home Monday morning when he heard his SUV start.

"I ran out and it was out of the driveway and up the road," he said.

A couple of men had stolen his vehicle. But Williamson was lucky — it was found about an hour later parked in Mountlake Terrace, and Lynnwood police caught one of the two suspected thieves.

Williamson's SUV was one of six vehicles stolen in south Snohomish County between 3 and 7:30 a.m. Monday after their owners left them unattended and idling or unlocked with the keys inside. All the owners were nearby when their vehicles were stolen, according to Lynnwood police.

The car thefts during the winter's first frost in the lowlands of Western Washington highlight a seasonal increase in auto thefts, spurred in part by people who leave their cars running and unlocked while the vehicles defrost.

According to statistics from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, there are generally a few hundred to 1,000 more car thefts per month in November and December in Washington than in each summer month. In 2004, for example, there were 4,071 reported car thefts in November and 4,169 in December, compared with 3,527 in June and 3,381 in July.

"We do remind people that car theft is sometimes a crime of opportunity," Seattle police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said. "We urge people to keep their cars locked at all times and to never, ever leave the keys in the ignition."

Car thefts may also be more common during the winter because people are more likely to leave valuable holiday gifts or money in their cars, Lynnwood police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions said.

Whitcomb says one of the simplest ways to keep your car from being stolen is never to leave it running and unattended. He says people should find other ways to defrost their cars, including using an ice scraper or a credit card to remove ice, or spending 10 minutes sitting in the car while it warms up.

King County sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said an idling, unattended car may be too much to resist for a car thief or even someone who wouldn't normally steal a vehicle. A thief "may not have set out to steal a car, but if one falls into their lap" they're likely to take it, Urquhart said.

The seasonal increase in car thefts here is compounded by the fact that Washington has one of the highest car-theft rates in the nation.

The state ranked seventh for the number of cars stolen in 2004, with 44,596, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Local police say lenient sentencing guidelines for car theft are part of the reason it has become such a problem in the Northwest.

According to data released this summer by the King County Prosecutor's Office, a car thief in Washington has about a 1-in-16 chance of being arrested for each car stolen.

And under state sentencing guidelines, a car thief will spend a year or more behind bars only after the seventh offense.

But drivers bear some of the responsibility for keeping their cars safe. Leaving your car running and unattended on a city street can net you a $101 ticket, said Snohomish County Sheriff's spokesman Rich Niebusch. Frost or condensation covering any window of the car while it's being operated can also result in a $101 ticket, he said.

Brian Alexander: 425-745-7845 or balexander@seattletimes.com