‘Road Warriors’ Foil Car Thieves

First there were car alarms. Then came the Club. And now there’s even Lojack so that your car can quietly call out for help.

But if your car is stolen, you will still need a human being, someone like Housing Authority Officer Bruce Autry, to recover your vehicle the old-fashioned way: with eyes and instinct.

Some days, Autry says, he will find three stolen cars--often complete with car thief inside. “I’ve taken hundreds of them,” he said.

To spotlight such officers in Southland police departments who make significant dents in the car theft battle, the Auto Club of Southern California has since 1980 awarded its 10-851 awards. The name refers to the section of the California Vehicle Code that outlaws vehicle theft.

To qualify for the award, a police officer must either arrest six car thieves driving their loot--”rolling stolens” in the parlance of the trade; recover 12 vehicles of which at least three are “rolling stolens,” or help break up a car theft ring.

This month, Autry picks up his 11th and 12th awards, which consist of a plaque and a uniform pin. Autry’s prowess appears to have rubbed off on those around him. Picking up their first awards are three of his colleagues at the Housing Authority’s Central Station: Officers Rick Carriere, Gene Stuckenschneider and Bradley Ponsford.

L.A. Housing Authority police, while part of the Housing Authority and not the LAPD, have the same arrest powers and similar duties as other police officers.

In the course of their everyday patrols, the officers often see stolen cars, sometimes just parked at the curb, sometimes pulled up alongside at a red light.

*

What tips them off that a car is stolen are the little things that look wrong. The rear window is broken or askew. There are no keys--or just one--in the ignition as the car is running. Or there’s a rag draped over the steering column. Stuckenschneider remembers a Cadillac with emergency spare tires on both rear wheels.

“Sometimes you’ve got a sixth sense that kicks in,” Carriere said.

Even though the Auto Club dispenses about a thousand of these awards to law enforcement officers each year, the 10-851 is still highly coveted.

At LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division, Officer Art Haddock reports a friendly competition to see who can win the most awards. Earlier this month, Haddock picked up his second. His partner, Oscar Sapien, was awarded his first. Three other Hollenbeck officers were also honored.

The owners of the recovered cars sometimes bestow their own awards on the officers. “A lot of the times, the cars aren’t insured, and it’s their only form of transportation,” Stuckenschneider said. One woman bought him a bottle of Chivas Regal whiskey. “I gave it away,” Stuckenschneider said. “I’m a tequila man myself.”

Occasionally the phone call to the car owner is less warmly received. “One lady was really upset,” Stuckenschneider said. “She was more angry that we recovered it. It was worth more in insurance money.”

Some days Autry finds stolen cars without even looking for them.

About four months ago, he and his partner were driving down Central Avenue in their patrol car. They were talking about a car his partner was thinking of buying. A Nissan Maxima--like the one in front of them.

“He wasn’t sure of the year,” Autry recalled. “I said it was ’84. He said it was an ’88. He said, ‘Let’s run [the license plate] and see what it is.’ ”

The police computer reported back: Stolen. Armed and dangerous.

The car turned out to have been used in a liquor store robbery.

Autry was right about the year. It was the 1984 model.

His partner ending up buying a Nissan Pathfinder.