New York State - Division of Criminal Justice Services

During the summer, the GIU Unit worked with the Buffalo Fire Marshal’s Office,Erie County Sheriff’s Department, and the Erie County District Attorney’s Office andmade an arrest in an incident involving a stolen Buffalo Police car that was recoveredand burned in the Town of Colden, New York. Buffalo police, along with the Erie CountySheriff's Department and other suburban police agencies, worked together to make thatarrest.An area of concentration for this year’s auto theft grant was stolen cars crossingthe Canadian border. Because Buffalo serves as an international border crossing, theGIU Unit and the detective assigned to the “Border Enforcement Security Team” (BEST)Task Force through U.S. Customs/Immigration looked at possible auto theft casesinvolving cross-border entries. In some cases, cars can easily be driven across theborder before a car owner is aware their vehicle was stolen.An investigation conducted by Buffalo's GIU detective involved a police officerfrom the "D" District who was on patrol, pulled over a suspected stolen Honda Civic andwas suddenly dragged by this stolen vehicle. During the course of this investigation, itwas found that members from the "7th Street Gang" were involved in an increasingnumber of thefts of Hondas and Acura Integras in the city. Through a cooperativeintelligence gathering effort with the Gang Unit and Buffalo Public School Security, anindividual was identified as a suspect. Also assisting on the arrest were the New YorkState Police and state Department of Motor Vehicles.During the first quarter of this reporting period, Buffalo Police reinstituted itsprogram with eight of the most active scrap processors in the Buffalo area due to therecent surge in MV-35 investigations; 2 more than last year. The theft of numerousvehicles fitting the criteria for MV-35’s ( 8-10 year old vehicles valued at less than$1,250.) occur in the City of Buffalo on a daily basis. During this fiscal year, wecontinued to look at salvage yards and the number of cases is usually staggering. Forexample, when the GIU detective(s) had 13 cases developed in a week, it meant thatthere was the possibility of 26 felony charges and 13 misdemeanors that had to becompletely investigated. Those charges would again double if the defendant in eachMV-35 sale sold an additional vehicle. These are quality of life issues for Buffalo, sincethose vehicles involved in the salvage thefts are normally vehicles that don’t havecomprehensive insurance. For the most part, they are stolen by subjects who had priornarcotic arrests and received payment between $80 and $125 for each vehicle. BuffaloPolice also continued to monitor tow truck operators who were reported stealingvehicles that were usually 8 to 10 years old. These operators then took the majority ofvehicles to salvage yards, affirmed with a MV35 that the vehicles are theirs and thenthey scrapped them. Due to the cooperation of the most active scrap processors in thearea participating with Buffalo Police’s efforts to thwart motor vehicle theft, this type ofscam has decreased by close to 5%.The Department of Motor Vehicles examines the MV-35 records and the BuffaloGIU detective assisted with two cases under investigation with DMV. The GIU detectivecontinued to help Buffalo's five police districts, along with other law enforcementNYS DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES MVTIFP BOARD / ANNUAL REPORT 2009 Page 55