California country’s worst state for stolen cars

From the Sierra Nevada to the Pacific Ocean, California has plenty to offer. But it has dubious qualities, too. It’s once again the worst state in the country for stolen cars.

According to a report issued by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) in Des Plaines, Ill., seven of the country’s worst cities for stolen cars for 2014 are located in California.

The combined Bay Areas cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Hayward (the Bay Are corridor) had by far the most care thefts reports in the with 29,093. The number substantially higher than any other metropolitan area in the country.

The California cities also among the top-10 worst for car theft in 2014 included: Bakersfield, Stockton-Lodi, Modesto, Vallejo-Fairfield, Fresno and the metro are comprises San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), car theft has steadily declined in the past three years. In the past 12 years, car theft in the United States has declined 42.8 percent.

The massive decrease, according to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHSA) includes several factors: increased use of standard antitheft devices (especially coded keys, engine immobilizers and telematics locating systems), vehicle parts marking, increased and improved prosecution efforts by law enforcement organizations and increased public awareness.

Each area’s rate of theft was determined by dividing the total number of car thefts by the estimated population of the area.
The resulting decimal was then multiplied by a factor of 100,000 so that the rate corresponds to thefts per 100,000 people.

Here’s the list of the top-10 worst cities in the United States for car theft in 2014:

1. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif. (29,093)
2. Bakersfield, Calif. (5,211)
3. Stockton-Lodi, Calif. (4,245)
4. Odessa, Texas (886)
5. Modesto, Calif. (3,047)
6. Spokane-Spokane Valley, Wash. (3,032)
7. Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif. (2,414)
8. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. (20,268)
9. Fresno, Calif. (5,260).
10. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. (10,531)