There is no doubt that California is our nation’s largest economic contributor. There also is little argument that its current fiscal crisis has the state on the brink of financial ruin. Another statistic California leads the nation is – auto theft!

Despite recent technological breakthroughs auto theft remains a real problem in the United States. It is estimated that stolen cars cost consumers and insurance companies more than $8 billion last year! Of the more than 1 million cars stolen only about half are ever recovered.

Geography is a Key

If you are wondering why California is the nation’s leader with respect to auto theft look at its geography. It happens to share a huge border with Mexico, where many of the cars are taken to “chop shops” and the parts are re-sold.

Parts is Parts

Airbags are one of the key items that are extracted from stolen vehicles and resold. It is estimated that the black market for airbags exceeds $50 million per year. Tires and rims also have a strong black market.

With the price of precious metals skyrocketing, catalytic converters are often re-sold.

California Numbers

Eight of the top 10 cities for auto theft are in California, led by Fresno. Other California cities plagued by car theft include Sacramento, Stockton and Bakersfield. 

While the ratio of cars stolen in Fresno and Stockton are high as a percentage of total cars, Los Angeles has the most cars stolen. One researcher quipped that there are more cars stolen during one Lakers and Dodgers game than in a week in those other two cities combined.

California is the nation’s overall crime leader. Get this – Californians have a 1 in 178 chance of being a victim of a violent crime this year! Maybe some of those thieves should be taking theft classes to learn not to steal!

According to a recent study 8.1 million Americans became victims of ID theft in 2010, resulting in the loss of $37 billion. Juvenile identity theft is difficult to measure since it can be years before the damage is detected. Debix, an identity theft monitoring company, reported 4,000 cases in 2010, out of a pool of 40,000 children. For those of us math majors that is a whopping 10%!

Underage victims of these scams may one day find themselves entering adulthood loaded with mountains of debt, but vigilant parents can avert trouble by heeding warning signs and taking the following steps to secure their child's identity.

1. Look for RED FLAGS

Watch out for signs that someone may be using your child's identity for a shopping spree, which include your son or daughter receiving pre-approved credit card offers or calls from collection agencies.

2. Know How to TAKE ACTION if your child has been affected

The FTC advises parents to check their child's credit report on their 16th birthday, giving them time to correct any errors before the child comes of age and obtains a credit card, or goes off to college and applies for financial aid.

f suspicious activity is detected, parents need to contact all three major credit bureaus—TransUnion, Experian and Equifax—and immediately request a report. You may also want to consider freezing your child's credit until you are able to wipe their slate clean again.

3. Learn how to obtain your child's credit report

Although adults can obtain their credit reports using the congressionally mandated free credit report website, annualcreditreport.com, it can't be used to check on anyone under the age of 13. For parents with children under 13, the easiest way to obtain your child's records is through TransUnion—but don't get roped into buying other credit-related services you don't want or need. If something turns up on the TransUnion report, be sure to follow up with the other two major credit bureaus (Experian and Equifax).

With shoplifting and other crime rates at all-time highs right now it is nice to hear a little good news. According to a report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau auto thefts have dropped to their lowest levels in almost 50 years!

Vehicle theft rates dropped an estimated 7.2 percent between 2009 and 2010, the NICB said, based on FBI crime data. A total of about 795,000 vehicles were stolen in 2009.

West is Worst

When it comes to auto theft, the West Coast reins king. All 10 top metro areas for auto theft are on the West Coast. That fact that can probably be attributed to the high rate of car ownership and easy access to ports and international border crossings. Professional auto theft rings often try to move cars out of the country.

Regional theft rates are calculated based on the number of vehicles stolen compared to the population.

A Little Bad News

Auto thefts weren't down everywhere, however. Thefts rose in the five metro areas that had the highest rate of thefts. Those metro areas are: Fresno, Fairfield, Modesto and Bakersfield in California, followed by Spokane, Wash.

Technology and Stings Fuel the Decline!

Reasons for the decline in auto thefts include improved built-in anti-theft technology in cars and better enforcement, including "bait car" programs.

Police in many cities have been using cars left parked with the keys in them to attract opportunistic auto thieves. The cars can then be shut off using remote control as thieves try to drive away with them.

Since a relatively small number of auto thieves account for a large number of thefts, "bait car" programs have proven especially effective at fighting it.

It’s always nice to read a little good news!

You can read the full story about an Idaho politician caught for DUI at Online Alcohol Class blog. The reason it's relevent to this blog is he was also accused of car theft of a Ford Excursion. 

This has got to be one of the more interesting theft stories to reach the news in a while. Why, you ask? How about it deals with a stolen mink coat? Not enough? How about the fact that the thief kept the coat hidden for 3 days? Still not enough? How about that the coat was hidden inside her underwear – while she was being interviewed at the police station!

How can that be? Those must have been some plus-sized panties. Take a look at the photo? Holy cow!

After the coat was found, 46-year-old Stephanie Moreland pleaded guilty this week to stealing a mink coat and keeping it stashed in her underwear for three days while cops questioned her about the theft.

She was arrested on New Year's Eve after an employee at Alaskan Fur Company I Bloomington, Minnesota, reported that she'd swiped a $6,500 mink coat.

Cops who searched her car found the coat's hanger - but no fur - and hauled her into jail on suspicion of theft.

Detectives grilled Moreland for three days over the New Year's holiday, giving her pat down and metal detector tests, but she insisted she had already sold the coat, cops said.

After investigators threatened to throw her in a Hennipan County Jail, Moreland hiked up her dress and pulled the mink coat from her underwear.

Cops were impressed with her craftiness.

"She had modified her underwear," Bloomington Police Commander Mark Stehlik said. "She actually cut the rear of the underwear out so that from the back it appeared she was not wearing underwear and then stuffed it down the front."

How the heck do you rob a police station? Can you imagine how it is done? My guess is it would have to be an inside job.

How else can you explain evidence missing from a police station? Do you think someone could actually get away with it? I would suspect they would have cameras monitoring the evidence room.

Yet in Conway, New Hampshire this past week the police station was robbed. Not only did the thief get away, but police are still investigating it and looking for clues! The robbery happened in April!!

Hmmh, some police department.

Keeping a Lid On it

What was stolen, you ask? A large amount of money. How much? Well, police department officials are not commenting on the amount.

In fact they were not commenting on anything until the theft was leaked to the media this past week. Apparently, they are either trying to cover up the loss of money or cover up their complete incompetence at losing a large amount of money out of their evidence room.

It stands to wonder again about this group of police officers. I would hope the story being leaked to the media will encourage this police department to ramp up their investigation. Either way, if you are a resident of Conway, new Hampshire, you have to be thinking about voting in a new Police Chief next election! Maybe he should be required to take a theft class to learn about the mind of a thief.

There are many horrific problems around the world today. Here at home a problem you hear about often but don’t realize how rampant it is, is identity theft. From people stealing your mail to accessing your computer, your identity and your financial well-being is at risk. Now comes the news out of Denver, Colorado that your identity can be stolen even while you are under general anesthesia.

Identities Stolen at Hospital

A nurse working for a staffing company has been arrested on charges of stealing the identity of patients at several Denver hospitals. The 30-year-old nurse, Cannon Tubb, was arrested on a fugitive warrant in Texas.

Tubb worked for a now-defunct nurse staffing agency that placed him at different hospitals in the area.

Prosecutors have filed 90 charges including attempted theft, identity theft and theft of medical records. The charges are tied to Tubb's work at Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton and St. Anthony North in Westminster, a Centura Health-owned facility. Tubb also worked at two additional Centura hospitals, St. Anthony Central in Denver and Porter Adventist Hospital in Englewood.

This could pose a serious problem as hospitals have not been targeted for identity theft in the past. The executives at each of these hospitals as well as many of the major medical chain hospitals like Mercy are working toward ensuring their patients’ identity remains safe!

As a counselor for both classroom and online theft classes I often discuss the notion that a good economy has a double-positive impact on stores. First, there is more money so more products are purchased. Second, more money means less shoplifting, with the net result again more money in the pocketbook of ownership and higher profits! What do you think? You may just be surprised.

Good Economy = More Theft!

I know what you’re thinking? “How can that be? I thought a good economy had a double-positive effect.” How can a population that is better off still be stealing?

The statistics, however, tell a different story. A recent study revealed that "shrinkage" - the industry term for inventory loss due to shoplifting, employee theft, paperwork errors and supplier fraud - actually rose in 2010, to 1.58% of all retail sales, from 1.44% of all sales in 2009. In dollar terms, shrinkage cost U.S. retailers $37.1 billion in 2010, versus $33.5 billion in 2009, a 10.7% jump.

More Theft = More Taxes

Consumers bear the brunt of this cost. "We need to be concerned," says Richard Hollinger, a University of Florida criminologist who conducted the NRF-sponsored study. "We all pay for it. This theft amounts to an involuntary tax to compensate retailers for crimes that take place in their stores."

Jobs and Organized Crime

The primary cause for this increase has to be the job market. America still has a chronic unemployment problem, and as benefits run dry, people get more desperate.

Another factor in this worsening problem is more organized retail crime rings. Shoplifting used to be an individual thing. Now, groups are stealing in large quantities, and it's a global enterprise.

According to another survey, 94.5% of the 129 retail companies questioned say they have been victimized by organized retail crime over the past 12 months, the most in the survey's seven-year history. Technology makes the trade more lucrative: criminals can lift items and easily move them on auction sites like EBay.

As kids most of us were lucky enough to receive a few bucks in cash in a birthday card from our grandparents.  For me – I got a crisp dollar bill for each year I was alive. Grandparents do this despite warnings from the United States Postal Service not to send cash in the mail.

The Reason

Sometimes the reason is obvious and the case of not sending cash in the mail is as well – because people steal mail. It is an unfortunate truth that has gone on for years. In addition to seeking cash, mail thieves seek personal information they can use for a different type of crime – identity theft.

Stolen Mail - The Numbers

Mail theft, a crime once punishable by death in the U.S., has long been a thorn in the government's side. In an average year, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service arrests about 12,000 people, nearly half for mail theft or possession of stolen mail.

In the last decade, mail theft arrests have actually declined, from roughly 6,300 in 2001 to 3,500 in 2010. At the same time, however, less mail has gone out — 171 billion pieces delivered in 2010, compared with 207.5 billion in 2001 — as people rely less on traditional mail and more on electronic communications.

But while snail mail loses its luster with the public, it remains a hot commodity for thieves. Despite the decline – get your mail daily and do not send cash!

How large has the United States Government become? We’ll I’ll tell you the big business of running big government needs a major overhaul.  It would be understandable that a few dollars out of a trillion-dollar budget might get lost in the shuffle, but the stories that continue to come out of Washington and how they keep track of the funds they approve and disperse is downright horrifying!

According to a congressional auditor claims that as much as $6.6 billion of reconstruction cash for Iraq cannot be accounted for and may have been stolen. Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said the missing money could be “the largest theft of funds in national history.”

How the Heck Do You Lose $6.6 Billion in Cash????

You might not be aware how the US Government doles out such huge amounts of money. My guess is that the funds would be wire transferred into a safe account with maybe a staff of 50-100 people accounting for the way it is doled out.  One would expect the utmost precaution when allotting millions of dollars. How much precaution would you expect for billions?

So, just how did our government transfer the $6.6 billion to Iraq? The answer is obvious – it was flown over in C-130 Hercules cargo planes, each of which can carry up to  $2.4 billion in U.S. currency. Great idea, huh?

Now Spend Millions to Find Billions

How much confidence can one possibly have in a government that allows $6.6 billion to be stolen?  Now Congress is talking about the millions of dollars it will cost to get some idea of where all this money went. Personally, if I lost a $20 I would spend a lot of time looking for it. 

But realistically, given the lack of competence shown by our government I think they should just cut this one loose.  We all know that they are not going to find this money. Originally the government said accounting errors led to its inability to account for the cash. That sounds like the same line corporations use when they are accused of tax evasion!

The Iraqi’s Want to Sue US to Get Their Loan!

The first part was the light part of this story. This is where things really get ridiculous!

Our government admits tight control was not being kept with the cash being sent to Iraq, with millions of dollars transported in bags and on pickup trucks to Iraqi agencies and contractors. What a joke?

The Pentagon has long said it could determine what happened to the money if given time, but it has yet to do so. Iraq’s government says the U.S., which controlled the country at the time, is responsible for the funds.

Iraq’s chief auditor, Abdul Basit Turki Saeed, warned U.S. officials that his government will go to court if necessary to recoup the missing money.

“Clearly Iraq has an interest in looking after its assets and protecting them,” Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States.

If you are the US government how do you respond to that? Someone just stole $6.6 billion from us and Iraq shows how grateful it is for all the US has done by threatening to sue us.  Go figure!