HOUSTON – According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, car theft happens close to 700,000 times a year in the United States.
Rarely do you see the car thieves in action, but now, more and more police agencies are catching these thieves in the act on video.
It's all thanks to the increased use of bait cars -- ordinary looking cars that are anything but ordinary. They are chocked full of high-tech cameras, recording equipment, computers and GPS devices. Just like a miniature television studio, the cars record every move the criminals make.
As soon as a car thief enters one of these vehicles, the cops are notified by computer alert to the exact location of the car. In fact, police can control the car in many cases via computer, meaning they can shut the car off, lock the thieves inside and then follow the GPS signal straight to the scene of the crime.
But the best part, according to experienced investigators, is the videotaped evidence the police have in hand -- actual video of the crime taking place.
"The evidence is so powerful, how can the accused argue they did nothing wrong?" said Michael Lynch, a security expert who has worked extensively with bait cars in Detroit.
In Galveston, Lt. Tommy Hansen also believes in the power of bait cars to put car thieves away.
Hansen, with the Galveston County Auto Crimes Task Force, has been working with bait cars for more than 10 years.
"Bait cars work because they lead you right to the car thief. You know where the car is and you can actively shut it down and lock the doors," Hansen said.
In Galveston, Tommy and his team are also using another state-of-the-art tool to stop car thieves; it's a specially equipped SUV with multiple cameras mounted all over the roof.
Armed with those cameras, all an officer has to do is drive down the road, a highway, or a parking lot and the cameras photograph the license plates on every car that goes by.
Those license plates are then instantly compared against a national database of stolen car plates, and when the computer finds a match, the officer driving that SUV is notified which car is stolen -- the make, the model, and the license plate.
Cops using cameras to stop car thieves in their tracks. It's a proactive approach to stopping crime, according to Michael Lynch.
"It's all about being creative. It's about the police doing something to stop these guys before they get away with your car and strip it down or part it out. And it's a lot better than taking a police report after the fact," Lynch said.
What can you do to protect your car from becoming a car thief's next target? The police say three things: