In an era that saw some significant declines in crime, it's one of the starkest drops of all: Vehicle thefts have all but driven off a cliff in the past 10 to 15 years.
The biggest reason has more to do with technology than human nature or behavior.
The advent of engine immobilizer systems in the late 1990s and early 2000s make it nearly impossible to start cars without their keys, which contain transponder microchips matched to the vehicle.
"You have to have a key to steal a car anymore, that's the bottom line," said Detective Stephen Owens, one of two auto theft investigators with the Lancaster city police.
Vehicles still being stolen off the street today are often models that are 15 or 20 years old - 1997 Honda Accords are the most stolen vehicle in Pennsylvania - or they are being taken by thieves who manage to obtain their keys.
In Lancaster city, the number of vehicle thefts plummeted 81 percent in 13 years, from 379 in 2001 to a mere 71 in 2014, according to annual crime reports.
The story was similar countywide, where vehicle thefts fell 67 percent, from 879 in 2001 to 291 in 2013, the last year for which a countywide figure is available.
Older models
Chief John Bowman of the East Lampeter police said there were 10 vehicle thefts in his township last year. That was down 71 percent from the 34 in 2001, according to annual Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reports.
"The engine immobilizers and services such as OnStar appear to have played a large part in the decline," Bowman said in an email. "Most of the vehicles we do see stolen are becoming 'older' models and some are left with keys in the vehicle due to carelessness on the part of an owner or driver."
Bowman said another type of technology has also been helpful. About two years ago his department received an automated license plate reader. Mounted on a police car, the device reads license plates of vehicles the patrol car passes, and automatically runs them through a computerized database.
"The day we put the reader into service one of our officers recovered a stolen vehicle on Lincoln Highway," Bowman said.
Owens said the decline in auto thefts in Lancaster can be attributed to several factors in addition to engine immobilizers.
For one, police began clamping down heavily several years ago on drivers who illegally let their cars running unattended with keys in the ignition. Today, far fewer motorists seem to be doing that, and it has cut down on car thefts.
A second factor is the security cameras that are scattered throughout the city and have sometimes recorded car thieves in action. A couple of such arrests several years ago all but ended a major problem with car thieves from Reading coming to Lancaster to steal vehicles, Owens said.
The thieves who were caught spread the word "not to come to Lancaster, there were too many cameras. So we saw a steep decline then," Owens said.
Car shows
A third factor, he said, is police attendance at car shows, where detectives can overtly spread word of their work or covertly gather information that might aid in investigations.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, vehicle thefts in Pennsylvania peaked at 60,062 in 1990, then fell 77 percent to 13,770 in 2013. It noted that the 2013 total was lower than in 1960.
The cars stolen most frequently in Pennsylvania in 2014 were the 1997 Honda Accord and the 1998 Honda Civic, according to the NICB.
A review of LNP police logs from the past year shows that while a few stolen vehicles were expensive, late-model cars and trucks, many were 10 to 20 years old or even older.
Some examples of vehicles stolen here recently are: 1995 and 1996 Honda Accords; 1988, 1998 and 1999 Honda Civics; 1995 and 1996 Mazda 626s; 1994 Acura Integra; 1989 Buick Century; 1992 Buick Regal; 2000 Volkswagen Jetta; 2002 Saturn Vue; 1994 Toyota Camry; 1996 Dodge Caravan; 1999 Chevrolet Malibu; 2001 Chrysler Town and Country minivan; 1999 Suzuki Esteem; 1996 Ford Windstar; 1999 Oldsmobile Olero.
Newer vehicles that were stolen have included a 2008 Ford F250 pickup, a 2015 Ford F-550 tow truck, 2015 Kia Soul and 2014 VW Jetta.
Owens said he doubts the number of stolen vehicles will decline much further, but the value of stolen vehicles will probably increase as old, pre-transponder cars leave the road and thieves focus on newer models.
Fraud
Some sophisticated thieves are using fake I.D.s and other fraudulent methods to access and then steal new or late-model vehicles from dealerships or rental agencies, he said.
Owens' advice to individual vehicle owners is to never leave keys in a vehicle - whether it's running or parked - and never leave keys hanging in an obvious place where a home intruder could find them easily.
"Nine times out of 10 they're putting that car in the hands of a juvenile, and that's where it gets really dangerous," he said. You may have a kid with little or no driving experience "deciding to flee from police in the city, and that's where it gets ugly, and those thefts can all be prevented."
Owens recalled one case in which a couple each kept a set of keys to the other's car inside their vehicle. Thieves broke into one car and ended up driving off with both vehicles.
One was later found wrecked in Philadelphia and the other was recovered in Lancaster when a suspect was arrested.
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