PUEBLO — Stolen vehicles are a common crime in Pueblo. A spokesperson from the Pueblo Police Department said motor vehicle thefts are a priority five out of seven. However, if the theft is happening in real time or it just happened, the call moves up to priority 4. News5 asked police if there are talks to increase that priority. They said that it will remain a priority five unless there is an imminent emergency.
“It is such a big, a big issue,” said Captain Dustin Taylor with the Pueblo Police Deparment.
The issue is people taking matters into their own hands after their car is stolen.
“When somebody takes this into their own hands, obviously it's very dangerous for them. We've seen in the past, obviously people getting hurt, injured, killed because of it,” said Captain Taylor.
He said there have been incidents of people trying to chase down and recover their own car that was stolen.
“The biggest thing we want to make sure of is to not try to go after people who are dangerous. And we do track and we do, we do try to find these cars, as soon as we can,” said Captain Taylor.
There are three ways people can report their stolen car to Pueblo Police. The first is calling the non-emergency number at (719)553-2502. The second is reporting it through Crime Stoppers which is anonymous and the third is going onto the police to the citizen website. This allows people to file a report online and include images.
“Let us do our job in helping to find those cars. And if you have information, please relay it to us and we will follow up on it,” said Captain Taylor.
According to Pueblo Police, they have a special group of officers known as the battle team that is in charge of auto theft, battle tracks down stolen cars and police say they have seen lots of success in the past year.
“We are working hard through different programs, you know, try to combat auto theft within our community, with our agency and other agencies within the southern Colorado area,” said Captain Taylor.
One Pueblo woman said her son's vehicle was stolen in September and recovered this week. She said the car was found five minutes away from where they live nearly three weeks after. It was in decent condition but all of her son's belongings were gone. The woman said she called the police multiple times before they responded.
“Your property, your car, anything that Solomon, is very personal. It's very personal, and it feels like an invasion into your life, and we understand that,” said Captain Taylor.
Police said dispatch can escalate a stolen car to a higher priority depending on other details of the theft, like if it is an armed robbery or the suspect is a violent offender. Pueblo Police said stolen cars are often used in additional crimes.
A spokesperson for the police department said a state law passed last year made it so the penalty for stealing a car is no longer based on the value of the vehicle. Instead, people can now be charged with a felony regardless of price.
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