City Adopts Auto Theft Tactic: Decals Flag Police

Acting to curb increasing auto thefts here, the Sheriff’s Department on Monday announced a program that allows residents to tell officers to pull over their cars during the early morning hours.

The Combat Auto Theft program allows owners to register their cars with the Sheriff’s Department and receive a reflective yellow and blue decal to place in the rear window. The decal indicates that the owner normally does not drive between 1 and 5 a.m., when police say most auto thefts occur, and directs officers to stop the car to see if it has been stolen.

The City Council backed Councilman Robert D. Breton’s proposal to start the program last year to “stem the rising tide of auto theft” in the city, he said. Sheriff’s records for Mission Viejo show that 238 cars and trucks were reported stolen in 1991, about 25% more than the previous year, Lt. Robert Rivas said.

Police departments in San Diego, Los Angeles and Ventura counties also offer the Combat Auto Theft program. In 1990, San Clemente was the first city in Orange County to adopt it and was followed by Huntington Beach, Buena Park, Anaheim, Garden Grove and La Habra.

Most drivers who sign up for the program are elderly men and women who do not usually drive during the early morning hours or people who live in apartment complexes or condominiums without garages, police said.

San Clemente resident George Budke, 77, said he signed up for the program more than a year ago to protect his 1984 Mercedes.

“You hear about those follow-home crimes” when thieves sometimes steal a car just after the owner has driven home, he said. “They’re picking on people with luxury cars.” Having the decal in the car “makes me feel a little more secure,” he said.

Orange County police departments say they have not pulled over many cars that sport the special decals, which they say may be a sign that the program deters would-be thieves.

In San Clemente, for example, “as far as I know we haven’t come across a car with a sticker,” said Janet Dunford, a crime prevention officer.

Mission Viejo residents can begin registering their vehicles today at the Sheriff’s Department Community Resource Center at the Mission Viejo Mall, 27000 Crown Valley Parkway.