New York State - Division of Criminal Justice Services

vehicle theft in Erie County has dropped by 29.8%. This decrease is likely attributed toa number of factors including a declining demand for scrap metal, increased use ofantitheft features on newer vehicles by manufacturers, and successful law enforcementinvestigations and prosecutions.During 2009, crimes involving vehicles, which are generally committed based onopportunity, have trended toward crimes that take a short time to commit and have alow risk of detection. It is more difficult to steal a vehicle today by simply hotwiring it, asmany newer vehicles will not start with out a transponder key. It is also more difficult to“part out” vehicles than in the past due to increased use of vehicle identificationnumbers leading to greater detection of stolen parts. Due to these reasons, the trendregarding vehicle crimes is moving toward vehicle break ins, stealing vehicles in whichthe owner has left the keys in the vehicle, owner “give ups” for insurance fraud, andwhite collar crime involving the use of fraudulent documents to commit larceny involvingvehicle sales and financing.The theft of vehicles for the sale of their scrap metal to scrap yards hasdrastically decreased, the result of the direct relationship between scrap metal pricesand the profitability of vehicle theft. As the amount of money paid for scrap metal hasbeen drastically reduced, the incentive to steal a vehicle for scrap has greatly declined.In Western New York, 35 motor vehicle theft cases resulted in the conviction of theowners of a scrap yard in Niagara County which acted as the largest fence in our areafor stolen vehicles. These defendants were each convicted of operating their scrap yardwithout a license in March of this year.Erie County continues to have a very high rate of vehicle owner “give ups” forinsurance fraud purposes, with the most common case involving the burning of avehicle by a paid arsonist. The arsonist is often a transient drug addict living in apoverty-stricken section of the City of Buffalo. The owner, typically from the suburbs ora more affluent section of the city, will generally pay the arsonist a small amount ofmoney, between $100 & $500, to “make the vehicle disappear.” The burnt-out vehiclegenerally turns up on a secluded side street in the city, a short time after it is reportedstolen by the owner. The City of Buffalo has been consistently experiencing about 400vehicle fires a year, and the vast majority of these are the result of insurance fraud.Erie County also has experienced an increase in white collar vehicle crimesinvolving various schemes by offenders who use an opportunity, often through theiremployment, to manipulate various types of documents in order to commit theft. InSeptember, the owner of the top used car wholesaler in Erie County pled guilty to sixfelony counts, admitting he stole MV 50 books from another car dealer and used the MV50s to sell vehicles and he avoided paying taxes. He believed that any investigation intothe unpaid taxes on these vehicle sales would not lead back to him and he could avoiddetection. He stole more than $70,000 from New York State in taxes he had collectedon the sales.NYS DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES MVTIFP BOARD / ANNUAL REPORT 2009 Page 59