'A neighborhood watch': Facebook page takes on Portland's car theft problem
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – In case you haven’t heard: Portland has a car theft problem.
While the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office attempts to find new strategies to tackle the area’s rising car thefts, people have taken matters into their own hands on social media.
A Facebook page called PDX Stolen Cars claims to have helped thousands of people find their stolen cars. Titan Crawford founded the page two years ago to “fill in the gaps when we can.”
“It's a combination of people that are in the group. They see a car outside their house they've never seen before: It's got a broken window, and it's, you know, something's off,” he said. “And then there's plenty of people that drive around looking for other people's cars. Then there are people looking for their own car.”
Crawford also said the group has even identified houses that have been turned into chop shops.
“When that car went missing, it sticks out like a sore thumb because we've recovered other vehicles at that property,” he said.
Meanwhile, deputy district attorneys in the county’s Auto Theft Task Force are gathering evidence themselves. One deputy DA, Cody Linderholm, said some may wonder why a Facebook page can expose these homes while the DA’s office or Portland Police Bureau still can’t charge or prosecute the people involved.
“I kind of look at it as a neighborhood watch,” Linderholm said. “With the understanding they aren't law enforcement or the DA’s office, how can we work together so when you're seeing problem areas we can put some resources in to address the chop shop or the known place stolen cars are dumped?”
In fact, Multnomah County DA Mike Schmidt’s office reports that prosecution of auto theft and theft at large has gone up. Auto thefts are down 5% compared to numbers from 2022, but with record levels in Multnomah County since 2020.
However, Schmidt also said that “5% isn’t good enough.”
The city and county funded four positions to create the Retail and Auto Theft Task Force with two attorneys and two investigators. So far, only the prosecutors have been hired.
His office reports prosecution rates have increased from 75% through May of last year to 83% in the same timeframe this year. They're trying to work with law enforcement agencies across the county to create standards for police reports for stolen cars so that officers can know what evidence is needed to track cases.
When a case is declined for prosecution, instead of sending it back to police with no notes, the task force will detail the evidence they need to charge someone, and in some cases, find the car themselves.
“It's communicating with officers right when something is declined for prosecution,” Schmidt said. “With this task force, we have the resources to do that follow-up.”
A federal court ruling out of Washington earlier this year also raised the bar for prosecutors. It found people who are charged with possession of stolen property must have knowledge that it's stolen. Schmidt and Linderholm say that's another aspect of the education for officers.
Stay with KOIN 6 as this story develops.