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ST. GEORGE — More than 810,000 vehicles were reported stolen last year in the United States, an upsurge that also has been seen in Southern Utah, prompting authorities to urge residents to protect their property from thieves.
A car is stolen every 48 seconds in the United States, according to CarInsurance.net. And in 2019 alone, more than $6 billion was lost to car thefts. But it was the recent spike in local car thefts that prompted officer Tiffany Mitchell with the St. George Police Department to post a statement on social media.
According to the post, amid the recent rise of stolen vehicles, 14 were stolen within a 28-day period last month, which equates to roughly one vehicle stolen every other day.
Mitchell told St. George News that while writing the post to place on social media, the police department received another report of a car stolen in St. George. A majority of the cases, including this one, involved vehicles that were left unlocked with the keys inside, she said, adding that this also was the common denominator in each of the cases officers handled in July.
