WESTMINSTER : Car Thieves Are Officer’s Favorites

Since Officer Cynthia L. Huhn started her career with the California Highway Patrol more than three years ago, hunting down stolen vehicles has become one of her favorite activities.

“I love getting car thieves off the road,” she said Wednesday. “I mean, it could be my car.”

Huhn, who was recently nominated by her CHP colleagues in the Westminster office for the Orange County Vehicle Theft Officer of the Year Award, wasn’t even out of training when she recovered her first stolen vehicle in 1989, and nabbed her first vehicle thief.

It was during an afternoon shift in Garden Grove that she and her training partner got a call about a crash involving a stolen motorcycle.

Although the suspect managed to flee after crashing the motorcycle, he turned up about an hour later at a local hospital, complaining of injuries he claimed came from a bicycle accident. The only problem with his story was that he came into the hospital wearing only one shoe. Huhn had picked up the other at the crash scene.

“That was quite a caper,” Huhn, 29, recalled. “That was fun.”

Earlier this year, Huhn, a Garden Grove resident, was honored by the Automobile Club of Southern California with the 10851 (pronounced ten-eight-fifty-one) Award for her success in recovering 12 stolen vehicles and apprehending three suspects in a 12-month period . The award gets its name from the state Vehicle Code section relating to vehicle thefts.

More recently, Huhn was nominated along with 23 other officers in the county for the Stolen Vehicle Officer of the Year award. She was the only woman law enforcement officer to be nominated this year. The winning officer will be selected Aug. 19 during a special ceremony at the Santa Ana Elks Lodge. The award is sponsored by the Orange County Auto Theft Advisory Committee.

“It’s just nice being honored,” she said. “A little recognition is always nice. But it’s just part of the job.”

And what a job it is.

Last year, 20,312 vehicles were reported stolen in Orange County alone, with about 16,000, or 78%, being recovered, either intact or stripped, according to the CHP. Statewide, more than 312,000 vehicles were stolen, representing about $900 million in losses.

In the last three years, Huhn figures she has recovered about 26 vehicles, mainly Toyotas, Chevrolets and Honda Accords, the No. 1 target for local thieves last year, according to CHP records. About 20 of those cars had been abandoned, while the rest were spotted as they were being stolen.

“With a lot of these, it’s luck of the draw, you just stumble upon them,” Huhn said.

Others are discovered when she pulls someone over for drunk driving.

“By and large, in the majority of the arrests I make, not only are the drivers under the influence, but they are driving a stolen car,” she said.

In addition to the luck of the draw, it also takes a skillful eye and sharp memory to catch some car thieves. There have been times, Huhn said, when she has noticed someone driving down the road with a screwdriver sticking out of the ignition. Then there are the times her suspicions have been aroused by someone driving in the cold of the night with an entire side window broken out.

“You’re going to find what you want out there if you’re willing to look for it,” she said. “It’s a lot of skill and a little bit of luck.”