Stolen cars, thefts from vehicles down over 40 percent since 2021, Wilton police say

WILTON — For an issue that has prompted the interjection of town officials such as First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice — who said it was time to "crack down on car thefts" in July 2022 — the number of incidents involving cars in town has declined since 2021. Stolen vehicles and thefts from vehicles have decreased in town year over year by more than 40 percent each, according to Wilton Police Department statistics. On Wednesday, Wilton Police Capt. Rob Cipolla pointed out that there was a 41 percent decrease in theft from vehicle incidents and a 46 percent decrease in stolen vehicle incident. In 2021, there were 13 stolen cars in Wilton and a victim count of 15. In 2022, that total of stolen vehicles fell to seven overall with a victim count of eight. Thefts from vehicles fell from 46 reported incidents and a victim count of 78 in 2021 to 27 reported incidents and a victim count of 54 in 2022. Cipolla noted that one incident may have multiple victims and that is why the incident count and victim count differ. In total, Wilton police reported 32 total incidents between stolen vehicles and thefts from vehicles in 2022 versus 57 in 2021. Concurrently, the number of residents affected by these occurrences fell from 89 to 59. "What I can say confidently is that our officers on evening and midnight shift have done a good job at being proactive and visible in their patrols," Cipolla said. "We also want to give credit to our residents who have listened to the message of 'lock it or lose it.'" There were some other notable differences between the two years of data, though. In 2022, there were reports of cars being stolen from an auto dealership, as well as commercial or office buildings, two locations that were not reported in 2021. The days of the week that saw the most incidents in 2022 were Sunday and Tuesday, as opposed to Friday and Saturday in 2021. May and September were recorded to be the month's with the highest occurrence rate in 2022 while April and June created the most incidents in 2021. Vanderslice spoke on the issue in the summer of 2022, stressing that the situation is one of real seriousness. She also noted that, from what she has been told, many of the individuals committing the crimes are repeat offenders. While the total number of repeat offenders wasn't readily available, Wilton was involved in an incident in early 2022 where the perpetrators were involved in other stolen vehicle cases in nearby towns such as New Canaan. Cipolla said that there have been some auto theft task forces derived throughout the state that "seem to remain busy with these types of investigations." While the number of incidents has dropped in Wilton, some trends have stayed the same. As was the case in 2021, the vast majority of incidents are occurring on residents' private properties. Police continue to advise residents to lock their car doors and take all keys and key fobs indoors and to a secure location while refraining to leave valuables in the interior of the car in clear sight to a passerby.

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