Denver International Airport (DEN), in partnership with the Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority, Denver Police Department, CATPA-Metropolitan Auto Theft Taskforce (C-MATT), and Colorado State Patrol today announced that their combined efforts have helped to drastically reduce auto thefts over the last two months of 2023.
November saw vehicle thefts reduced to 11, compared to 39 in November of the prior year, and 61 vehicle thefts in October of 2023. The busy holiday travel season for the month of December saw 10 car thefts. Overall, vehicle theft at DIA is trending down significantly from the peak during the summer months.
“One auto theft at DEN is one too many. But through a focused and coordinated effort with our partners throughout 2023 to improve and increase security measures, surveillance, and enforcement, we have finally begun to see thefts at DEN trending down,” said DEN CEO Phil Washington. “We will stay vigilant and continue our joint efforts to ensure vehicles are safe while parked at DEN.”
In 2023 DEN implemented several important measures to help mitigate auto thefts, including:
- Installing 11 additional HALO cameras in the East and West Economy lots as well as in the Pikes Peak lot. That brought the total to 15 HALO cameras across these three lots increasing security surveillance by 75 percent
- Increasing the presence of security officers across the lots and constructed concrete barriers at the exit of these three lots to help reduce gate crashing
- Installing new barriers at key parking lot locations to help prevent criminals from leaving parking exit lanes and damaging gate arms
- Integrating cutting-edge technology that alerts security personnel when stolen vehicles enter key locations on airport property
“The Colorado Auto Theft Prevention Authority and the Colorado State Patrol are full of appreciation to the DEN administration for their dedication and rapid response to increase the security of their physical location while maintaining full collaboration with law enforcement agencies to reduce auto theft quickly and effectively at DEN. Through collaborative efforts like this, with dedicated partners such as Denver PD, C-MATT, CSP, and DEN, the near elimination of auto theft is possible anywhere in Colorado,” said Cale Gould, CATPA Outreach Coordinator.
DEN’s 51,000 parking spaces encompasses 53 square miles. More than 14 million vehicles parked in DEN’s lots last year.
Travelers who park at DEN are encouraged to remain vigilant by ensuring they’ve locked their car and taken their keys with them before leaving. For cars on the top ten most stolen vehicles list, CATPA recommends taking extra security precautions to secure the vehicle such as a steering wheel lock, an aftermarket alarm system, or advanced measures like a vehicle kill switch or immobilizer.
Disclaimer: Stolen vehicle data is sourced from the Colorado Stolen Vehicle Database Repository (SDVR) which provides law enforcement reporting of stolen vehicles to the Colorado Crime Information Center (CCIC). The SVDR is managed by the Auto Theft Intelligence Coordination Center, a grant project funded by the Colorado Automobile Theft Prevention Authority. The SVDR contains information on the number of reported stolen vehicles, data results may vary from the Colorado Bureau of Investigations crime data on the incidence (or police cases) of motor vehicle theft/attempts into UCR/NIBRS reported by Colorado law enforcement agencies. Additionally, information contained in the SVDR is considered dynamic as modifications to records are made on a daily basis. Stolen vehicle records were screened for accuracy and normalized for standardization prior to use in this analysis. Percentages are rounded to the nearest percent.
