| According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau | | | | report gathered by the St. George Police Department, |
| statistics, a car is stolen every 25.5 seconds. As such, | | | | there were 137 motor vehicle thefts reported in the |
| communities nationwide have to be cautious because | | | | city of St. George for that particular year. This number |
| they constantly face the risk of auto theft. | | | | mirrors only a tiny portion of the 7,267 vehicle thefts |
| The NICB was created to work with insurance | | | | reported in the state of Utah as a whole, said the Utah |
| companies to prevent insurance fraud and auto theft. | | | | Department of Public Safety's crime statistics report. |
| As part of its functions, the Bureau provides statistics | | | | Sgt. Craig Harding, public information officer for the St. |
| and list of cars most popular among thieves. | | | | George Police Department, presented a seminar in |
| Based on the Bureau's data, the 1995 Honda Civic | | | | September at the Dixie Center explaining how |
| topped the list of cars most likely to be broken into or | | | | community awareness prevents crimes. |
| stolen in the previous year. On the second and third | | | | He described the three components of a crime: a |
| spots were the 1989 Toyota Camry, and the 1991 | | | | perpetrator, a victim and an opportunity. "A crime won't |
| Honda Accord, respectively. The Nissan Sentra, Acura | | | | occur if one of these components does not exist. If |
| Integra and the Ford F-150 also made it to the list. | | | | the perpetrator is there with the mind and will to |
| Luxury automakers such as the manufacturer of the | | | | commit a crime, and the person comes out of the |
| Acura brake booster and Cadillac Escalade are the | | | | darkened stairwell giving the opportunity but the person |
| hot subjects of thievery. Also, statistics shows that | | | | is prepared, the 'victim' aspect has been taken out of |
| students are now treated as easy prey to burglary. | | | | the equation," Harding said. |
| Robyn Brinkerhoff, a junior majoring in communications | | | | The NICB suggested a layered approach, which is |
| from St. George, said a former roommate had his car | | | | described in an advice article titled "America's most |
| broken into. "He came out of the house one morning | | | | stolen vehicles" published on MSN Web site. The |
| on the way to school and was startled to find his car | | | | layers are low-cost effective suggestions that will |
| had been burglarized sometime during the night. The | | | | make cars less attractive to thieves. |
| only thing they had stolen were his school books out | | | | The first of four layers the experts suggest is basic |
| of his backpack," Brinkerhoff said. "He had CDs, a | | | | but often accidentally overlooked. Lock the car, and |
| stereo, and all they were after was his books. They | | | | take the keys - that's it. The second is equipping the |
| didn't even take the backpack." | | | | vehicle with an alarm system or warning device. |
| Thieves are keen. Whether they wanted a particular | | | | Immobilizing the car by using a smart key fuel cut-off is |
| equipment or document inside the car, or the vehicle | | | | the third layer, and finally, installing some form of |
| itself, they will find a way to get it. | | | | tracking device that would allow authorities to recover |
| Based on the 2006 Crime Statistics Year End Total | | | | a vehicle if stolen is the fourth, Dixie Sun reported. |