Olympia police state 40% increase in motor vehicle theft, names other four prevalent property crimes in 2022

Olympia Police Department (OPD) reported motor vehicle theft, vehicle prowl, retail theft (shoplifting), residential burglary, and commercial burglary as the most common crimes against property in Olympia for 2022.

Police Chief Rich Allen and Lieutenant Bryan Wyllie shared the details through a Property Crime Update during the Community Livability and Public Safety Committee Meeting last Wednesday, February 22.

Motor vehicle theft

Wyllie revealed a 40% increase in the occurrence of motor vehicle theft crimes.

“[For] our five-year average, about 260 of these reported to us a year, so that's 260 victims that we have in the city. Our 2022 total is sitting at 364 reported incidents for the year,” Wyllie said.

Allen affirmed Wyllie’s report, saying that auto theft is a regional problem that may be connected to Washington’s Substitute House Bill 1363, which limits officers from pursuing criminals.

The reconstructed bill will only allow officers to chase a suspect after establishing probable cause, submitting factual evidence of the crime, and getting approval from their superiors.

“The going theory is this is in response to the reform legislation and the restriction on pursuits. Suspects just have to get to a car, and they’re kind of home-free,” Allen said.

“We weren’t doing stolen car pursuits way before it was involved in the police reform legislation. But regionally, bad guys didn’t know that. People are stealing cars to commit crimes and get away,” Allen added.

Vehicle prowl

The report showed that the 5-year average for vehicle prowl is 503 cases, and the 2022 average exceeded the record slightly at 566.

“The five-year average [is] about 500 vehicle prowls in a year. Compared to what happened to us last year in 2022, we had an increase of 12.5%,” Wyllie shared. “Those are 911 calls, or officers might view them; either way, they've come through our system.”

Wyllie said that because of this, police presence during nighttime was strengthened during the last quarter, with them being dispatched for officer-generated activities and citizen response.

“We're being the most visible in nighttime hours which is when we are experiencing the vehicle prowls. So we're seeing high visibility at 85% of our traffic stops in our fourth quarter,” Wyllie said.

Retail theft (shoplifting)

The five-year average for shoplifting was 229, and the 2022 total was 245, bringing it to a 6% increase.

“The actual numbers in 2018 are sitting at 250 shoplifting events, and 2019 we see a spike, and then kind of things mellow out a little bit. You guys are all familiar with what is happening in 2020-21. As far as activity 2022, we kind of got back up to the average again,” Wyllie said.

Allen shared that most shoplifters do not steal necessities for daily life; they steal for profiteering.

“From the reports that I've seen, it suggests that it's more of organized steps that are happening there. They're selecting certain items because they know they can post [them] online and resell them for profit,” Allen reported.

“They sell things that are easy to steal and easy to sell,” Allen said, “It's not a mom stealing diapers to support the kid at home; it’s people selecting items that they can easily make a profit on.”

Residential burglary

The police officers didn’t have much to report for residential burglary, other than it is the only crime with a decrease in occurrence.

“Overall, in 2022, we're in the negative percent. So the five-year average is sitting at 159, our 2022 average is 153. And we're down 4.3%,” Wyllie said.

Commercial burglary

“Our five-year average, again, you see a familiar chart sitting at 161. In 2022, we experienced 207 of those, so we get this increase in commercial burglary,” Wyllie reported.

Commercial burglary had repeat victims in areas such as construction sites, and the officers got together with victims and worked with them on details like cameras, security guards, or even area patrol.

Wyllie was also asked about the distinction between commercial burglary and robbery, “A robbery would be [a] threat or imminent danger. A robbery is forcible. So, commercial burglary is basically no contact.”