Albuquerque police report 3% drop in auto thefts in 2024

The Albuquerque Police Department said Hyundai, Chevrolet and Kia vehicles are the most popular on the streets. If you’re a thief, that is.

Of the more than 5,000 vehicles reported stolen last year, those three brands got taken the most, APD officials said during a news conference Wednesday morning at the Northwest Substation.

The good news, the department said, is that auto thefts went down in 2024 — with a few hundred less vehicles reported stolen off Albuquerque streets.

As for exactly how much they dropped, the department gave two different data sets: the way the FBI tracks it — known as NIBRS, or the National Incident-Based Reporting System — and the way APD does it internally.

On Wednesday night, APD spokeswoman Rebecca Atkins sent an email with an attached chart showing that, according to NIBRS, reported auto thefts dropped 3%, from 5,946 in 2023 to 5,776 in 2024. The chart, which dates back to 2017, shows auto thefts have dropped 44% since then, with 10,350 vehicles reported stolen that year.

Atkins said the chart was created Wednesday by the Real Time Crime Center and “is subject to change as reports are finalized.”

Hours earlier, during the news conference, APD released statistics from their internal tracking that reported auto thefts dropped 7%, from 4,716 in 2023 to 4,401 last year.

APD spokeswoman Franchesca Perdue said that NIBRS counts modes of transit that are not motorcycles or passenger vehicles. For example, she said, motorized scooters are counted by NIBRS but not APD.

The department has at times released the separate data sets during year-end crime statistics briefings. NIBRS, used by the FBI to compile local and national crime statistics, includes many more categories of crime than APD’s internal reporting methods.

The decrease in reported auto thefts last year can be attributed to the effectiveness of the city’s bait car program, the distribution of 500 steering wheel locks and the use of technology such as automated license plate readers, APD Chief Harold Medina said during the news conference.

“All this technology has assisted us in making sure that we’re able to combat auto theft,” he said.

In 2024, police said, thieves stole 663 Hyundais, 660 Chevrolets and 525 Kias. APD said Dodge was also a popular vehicle to steal but didn’t have totals for 2024.

The department did not respond to an inquiry on how many people were arrested for auto theft in 2024 compared with 2023. An APD spokesperson sent a list of auto theft suspects charged in 2024.

In September, police said they arrested Nathaniel Sanchez, 28, for operating a chop shop in Southeast Albuquerque, where four stolen vehicles were found.

The city also arrested multiple teens, including two boys who took a bait car on a joyride in March, according to APD. One of the boys told police he learned how to start the vehicle using a screwdriver by watching Instagram videos of the “Kia Boyz,” a nationwide trend of young people stealing Kia and Hyundai vehicles and posting videos of their crimes to social media.

“We’re always looking to see how they can take some of these high active criminals, who are impacting auto theft the most, (and) put them in custody as quickly as possible,” Medina said.

APD Cmdr. Jeffrey Barnard said while there was a drop in auto thefts, the city has seen an increase in people stealing newer vehicles that use push buttons to start the engine.

While recent national rankings for auto thefts have yet to be released, Medina said he hopes the city drops out of the top 10 in rankings. In 2022, the National Insurance Crime Bureau ranked the city 6th, with a rate of 795 auto thefts per 100,000 people.

“Our philosophy with auto theft is to go out proactively,” Medina said, “find the individual with the stolen car and put them in jail.”