WEB PAGE TOOLS ~ Print this article ~ E-mail your opinion on this article OTHER FEATURES STORIES ~ Multicultural community meets at Crossroads ~ A drive across the 'Top of the World' ~ One man, one island, one bird, one world ~ Victim-support groups hold street corner vigil against police brutality Every 15 minutes: Catching, prosecuting car thieves not easy tasks PART TWO OF A TWO-PART SERIES Christiane Helbig Special to The Ebbtide Editor's note: Part one of "Every 15 minutes" was originally printed in the April 25 edition of The Ebbtide. There are two different investigation areas in an incident of vehicle theft: the crime scene investigation usually carried out by patrol officers and the follow-up investigation conducted by the detective. The success of an investigation relies considerably on the patrol officer's work at the crime scene, explained Detective Ron Huston, Lake Forest Park Police Department. In the case of vehicle theft, the actual crime scene is gone. Therefore, the area where the stolen car was parked becomes the "survey area" and should be investigated like any other crime scene, which includes looking for foot prints and tire marks and questioning victims, neighbors or witnesses. Illustration by Devin Yu   However, Huston said, many police officers do not look at the location of a car theft as a "crime scene." Once the primary investigation is finished, the detective work begins. Huston described the relationship between the preliminary investigation and the follow-up as "Garbage in, garbage out." If the information obtained at the crime scene is insufficient to begin with, the follow-up investigation will not turn out well. When a vehicle is reported stolen, the information about the stolen vehicle is entered into the Washington Crime Information Center (WACIC) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) databases, explained Michael Williams, King County Sheriff's Office. Every officer in Washington and the nation has access to that data. Additionally, the data is faxed to all precincts and put on the roll-call board. Once all police agencies are informed about the theft and have access to the data, patrol officers can watch out for stolen cars. "The best way to recover a car is catching somebody driving it," Williams said, adding that the driver of the car cannot be charged with auto theft automatically but with possession of stolen property. "He might have gotten the car from somebody and is just driving around in it." If police suspect that the thief knows the owner and ever had permission to take the car before, it is difficult to file charges. Williams knows of cases where children snuck out at night and took their parents' cars without their knowledge. When the parents notice that their car is gone, they contact the police and are upset. "They want us to 'hammer' the kid," Williams said. However, a few days after the incident, they often have changed their mind and do not want their child to be charged with a felony. It is up to the detective to prove who actually stole the car. Unfortunately, this appears to be a major challenge. The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office (KCPAO) will not accept fingerprints from the windows of a stolen car since those do not prove that the suspect was actually in the car. So, detectives must focus on items inside the vehicle. The fingerprints off these objects may be traced to a suspect who claims to have never been in the car. KCPAO classifies these as portable items. The suspect could have been at a party and thrown an item into the car. There is still no proof. Worse still, even fingerprints on a rear-view mirror may not be enough to prove a suspect's guilt. The suspect might have used the car as a shelter because it was raining outside, and when he woke up in the morning, he adjusted the rear view mirror to check himself out and comb his hair. KCPAO has to ensure that the case is "airtight" before commencing prosecution. Huston sums it up by saying that if the perpetrator does not admit or if no one confirms having seen the crime committed, a conviction won't happen. What needs to happen for a conviction? © 2003 Shoreline Community College™