Vehicle thefts in South Florida: Local thieves target luxury vehicles, are rarely caught
MIAMI -- Auto theft is up around the country and newly released data from the FBI shows that while many cars are recovered in South Florida the thief is never caught
The Hamilton's family car was stolen recently from in front of their Miami Beach home.
"My wife woke me up and said, 'Where's your car?'" Peter Hamilton said. "'I said in the driveway' and she said, 'No it's not.'"
Their car was found in a Miami Gardens parking lot but no arrest was made.
CBS News Miami obtained data from various law enforcement agencies in South Florida and found there has been an uptick in vehicle theft.
According to the city of Miami, vehicle theft is up 23 percent over five years. The Broward County Sheriff's Office reported an increase of 16 percent over two years
The city of Hollywood reported that the number of stolen cars was up nearly 22 percent over four years.
CBS News Miami spoke to Broward sheriff's Sgt. Jason Hendrick with the Burglary Apprehension Team about the uptick in vehicle theft.
"It appears there's a hierarchy," he said. "An organization (of) 13- to 17-year-old teenagers who go up and down affluent areas of
Broward, Palm Beach, Dade, Collier and even as far as Orlando looking for mirrors in the out positions."
That is the tell tale sign a car is unlocked when the mirrors are in the out position, Hendrick said.
Also, the vehicle's fob, which allows for keyless entry, is sometimes left in the vehicle, inviting trouble.
The city of Coral Gables said of the 108 vehicles stolen in their city last year, 64 were due to drivers leaving their key fobs in the car.
A large number of vehicles scouted in South Florida are high end car models that include Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini and Ferrari.
"They'll do a theft. rent a high-end vehicle or steal them and go to an affluent area like Parkland," Hendrick said. "No one will look twice if someone's in a Lamborghini in Parkland."
Hendrick says the scouts deliver the cars to bosses, who often put a fake VIN on it and sell the vehicles.
Besides scouts, there are sophisticated car thieves who know the latest technology.
"They can re-program the key, disable the GPS and it's gone in minutes," Hendrick said.
Law enforcement authorities say one way people can outsmart the thieves is to invest in new technology.
Aftermarket GPS devices that owners can hide in the vehicle, which can then be tracked by police if it's stolen.
