Fridley Auto Thefts Off 2010 Pace

Anoka County law-enforcement agencies have cut countywide auto thefts by more than half since 2008. But this year could be a different story.

At this time a year ago, Blaine had nine auto thefts; this year it has 26. Hilltop has already hit its numbers from last year, not even halfway through the year. Linwood, which had no thefts last year, has reported one auto theft so far this year.

Fridley had the highest number of auto thefts last year, compared with other cities in Anoka County.

The Numbers
Although there is no way to predict how Fridley will fare this year, data shows significant drops in the number of car thefts in each of the last three years.

In 2008, Fridley had 144 car thefts. The next year showed improvement, with 83 auto thefts in Fridley. In 2010, Fridley had 70 auto-theft reports.

Throgh April this year, Fridley has had 13 auto thefts. Blaine had the highest auto theft number so far this year, with 26 stolen vehicles.

Anoka County is well above the state and national average for stolen vehicle recovery. Last year, 57 percent of stolen vehicles in Anoka County were recovered.

This Year
So far this year, Anoka County has had 128 auto thefts. Of those, 28 have been accounted for or recovered.

The county has averaged four days' recovery time for stolen vehicles this year, compared to 10 days' last year.

Location of vehicles at the time they were stolen has also changed from last year.

So far this year, 21 percent of stolen vehicles in Anoka County were taken from a parking lot (30 percent last year); 7 percent were stolen from a driveway (19 percent), 7 percent from the street (9 percent), and 5 percent from the garage (3 percent).

Odd Fact
On one day last month (April 17), Fridley had 10 calls to police reporting that someone was tampering with a vehicle.