With a 9% decline in auto thefts this year, Albuquerque is no longer ranked in the top five nationwide, coming in instead at No. 6.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau's numbers are for the entire Albuquerque metro area, including four counties, and the positive change can be attributed to the hard work of the Albuquerque and New Mexico police departments, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said in a tweet.
“We got really good news today. This has been an arduous journey. One that’s been not only taken on by the police department but also by the citizens of Albuquerque, who have done a really good job in [the] preventing of those preventable thefts,” Albuquerque Police Investigative Support Division Lt. Aaron Jones, who oversees auto thefts, told KRQE.
While numbers have been declining since 2017, this is the first time in years Albuquerque has placed outside of the top five.
The NICB reports auto thefts in the city have decreased from 7,146 in 2018 to 5,835 in 2020. Albuquerque Police Department (APD) told KRQE its partnerships with state police and the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance may have contributed to the decline, alongside an increase in residents being more cautious.
As of 2020, data shows an auto theft rate of 632 per 100,000 in Albuquerque, down from 697 in 2019 and 780 the year prior.
