OLYMPIA- Legislature Looking into Increasing Penalties for Car Prowlers

Washington state law enforcement authorities, including Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick, are urging the Washington State legislature to increase the penalties for car prowling. Car prowling is defined as the theft of property from a motor vehicle.

Car prowls have been on the increase statewide since the legislature cracked down on car thefts in 2007. In the city of Everett alone, 6.5 vehicles are prowled per day. Car prowlers are increasingly sophisticated and organized. Also, a car prowler can quickly gain entry to a car, often taking less than 15 seconds to break a window, take whatever is inside and run away.

Currently, car prowling is a gross misdemeanor. The legislation that the legislature is considering would make car prowling a class C felony.

For more details about this effort, go to:

            http://heraldnet.com/article/20130306/NEWS01/703069947#Bill-would-increase-penalty-for-car-prowls

 Note: The 2007 legislation cracking down on car thefts has been very successful in reducing car thefts. Sheriff Lovick and other law enforcement officials feel confident that implementation of stronger sanctions for car prowling would also be very successful.

 While stronger laws will help, we all can help keep the statistics down by:

 

• Locking our doors.
• Not keeping anything in view when we park our vehicles.
• Parking in a well-lit areas.

For more information about protecting your car from car prowls go to:

            http://sheriff.snoco.org/Documents/Vehicle%20Prowl.pdf