In the last ten months, 3,011 cars have been stolen in the City of Seattle. That is an average of almost ten cars per day.

In the last week at least three vehicles were stolen in Ballard alone. These occurred on 900 block of N.W. 52nd St, 6100 block of 14th Avenue N.W., and 5200 block of Ballard Avenue N.W.

Vehicle theft has increased 17 percent since last year, said Sergeant Sean Whitcomb from the Seattle Police Media Response Unit.

“That’s a big number that we’re hoping to reduce,” Whitcomb said.

Last Wednesday, the Seattle Police Department implement a new social media strategy to combat auto theft.

The SPD is now tweeting stolen car information in the hopes that that victims of auto theft will be able to get their cars back sooner and to let thieves know that their stolen rides will get more noticeable. 

“One, we want to get people aware about theft. Two, reduce the likelihood that a car gets stolen. And three, we want thieves to get the message that the fact a car was stolen isn’t just law enforcement knowledge anymore. Everyone in the community will know and driving around in a stolen car will get noticed,” said Whitcomb.

They got the Twitter account idea from Albuquerque, New Mexico where police enforcement has successfully been using Twitter in an effort to deter crime.

When a car is reported stolen in Seattle, employees in the Seattle Police 911 Center will tweet the color, year, make, model, body style and license plate of the stolen car on the “Get your car back” Twitter account.  Twitter followers who spot a car that has been tweeted as stolen should call 911.    

“The thing about Twitter is that it’s fast, lots of people have an account and lots of people check Twitter on mobile devices. We’re hoping people will keep their eyes peeled on stolen cars,” Whitcomb.

The Twitter site for this new program can be found at http://twitter.com/getyourcarback. 

Additional information regarding auto theft and crime prevention can be found at http://seattle.gov/police/prevention.