Car Thieves in Smyrna Beware

The has a new tool to apprehend stolen vehicles. Police Chief Stan Hook shared news of this new technology during his committee report at Monday’s city council meeting.

“We just got a grant for $25,000 from the federal government to buy this stolen car research thing,” he said. “You put it in the car and ride around and when it spots a stolen car, it just puts out the signal and we just have to apprehend it. It’s great. We just got it last week. It will be awhile before we get it installed and get the software working right and everything.”

Hook also shared that vehicle theft has drastically decreased in Smyrna over the last three years. He noted that vehicle theft had been on the rise in Smyrna since he began working for the department in 1990. The average number of vehicle thefts in the city peaked between 2001 and 2007 when there was an average of 291 vehicle thefts per month.

However, this number has decreased to an average of about 154 stolen vehicles a month since 2008. Hook could not explain the decrease, but said he hopes it continues.

The Smyrna Police Department answered 5,400 calls in August 2011 and responded to 148 traffic accidents with a total of 52 injuries. Smyrna police officers issued 2,454 citations in August and arrested 343 adults and 12 juveniles. A side-by-side comparison of crimes committed in Smyrna in August 2011 versus August 2010 can be found below.

August 2011

August 2010

Rapes

2

1

Robberies

5

7

Aggravated Assaults

7

14

Simple Assaults

72

63

Burglaries

37

53

Petty Larceny

84

100

Stolen Vehicles

8

11