Auto thefts on the Big Island spiked sharply during the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to Hawaii Police Department statistics.
There were 1,190 auto thefts reported islandwide in 2019, the last prepandemic year. The pandemic hit the island in March 2,000, and auto thefts increased to 1,269 that year, a 6.6% increase.
By far, however, the worst year for auto thefts in the last five years was in 2021, when 1,620 vehicles were reported stolen on the Big Island, a whopping 27.6% uptick from the previous year and 36.1% more vehicles than were stolen in 2019, just two years earlier.
“There was a spike in 2021. I guess some people were having financial problems,” said police Capt. Rio Amon-Wilkins, who commands the East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division. “But the auto thefts we get, a lot of it is just joyriding.
“Some of them, we never find, but a lot of them we’ll see dumped somewhere. And you’d be surprised the minor things they steal off the vehicle.”
The two districts contributing the most to the severe spike were South Hilo, where vehicle theft reports climbed from 381 in 2020 to 545 in 2021, and Puna, where the numbers increased from 375 to 526. That’s a 43% hike for South Hilo and just above 40% for Puna.
And in Ka‘u, which has a smaller population and fewer auto theft reports, the upward trend was even steeper — 144 reported car thefts in 2021, a 54.8% surge.
In Kona, however, where much of the reported crime is directed toward visitors, auto thefts went down — with 300 thefts in 2021, 30 fewer than the previous year, a 9% drop. Despite the reduction, Kona still had the third-highest car theft reports islandwide in 2021.
Auto theft has long been a bane of Hawaii car owners. According to the data analytics website Statista.com, in 2020, Hawaii had 379.8 reported auto thefts per 100,000 inhabitants, sixth among states — seventh, when Washington, D.C., is included — and well above the national average of 246 auto thefts per 100,000 inhabitants.
“I don’t know what the numbers are for the other islands, but we have a lot of remote areas here that people leave their vehicles,” Amon-Wilkins said. “And parking somewhere in a remote area and leaving your vehicle is something that can contribute to that.”
Reports of pilfered rides on the Big Island took a downturn in 2022, with 1,321. That’s still the second-highest number in the five-year period examined by the Tribune-Herald, but a precipitous 18.5% drop from the previous year.
It also appears Big Islanders are headed for another dip in auto thefts in 2023. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 9 of this year, 818 automobiles had been reported stolen in Hawaii County. If that rate holds, that would put the island on course for 1,185 stolen car reports this year, which would be the lowest number of auto thefts over the past five years.
Between Jan. 1, 2019, and Sept. 9 this year, there were 6,218 reported automobile thefts islandwide, according to police.
The largest number of reported thefts, 1,948, occurred in South Hilo, followed by Puna with 1,774 thefts and Kona — which includes both North and South Kona — with 1,545 thefts. Those are the three most populated areas of the island.
More sparsely populated areas had far fewer reported thefts over that five-year period: Ka‘u, 492; South Kohala, 266; Hamakua, 74; North Kohala, 68; and North Hilo, 51.
In addition, lawmakers the past couple of years have introduced legislation aimed at reducing the number of catalytic converter thefts on vehicles. The device, which reduces toxic emissions in exhaust fumes, is relatively easy to steal from a car and contains precious metals such as platinum, rhodium and palladium. According to Carfax, selling a catalytic converter for its metals can bring anywhere from $25 to $300.
In 2019 and 2020, only one catalytic converter theft was reported each year. That number also spiked in 2021, when 54 catalytic converters reported stolen islandwide. South Hilo had the largest number of reports, 34, with Puna recording 11 reported catalytic converter thefts.
“I think that spike year (2021) was a handful of suspects we became aware of and were able to apprehend,” Amon-Wilkins said.
That same year, the state Legislature made catalytic converter theft a Class C felony punishable by up to five years imprisonment, the same severity as auto theft. That, however, didn’t deter thieves, as 195 of the devices were reported stolen islandwide in 2022 — a 261% increase.
The largest number of catalytic converter thefts were in Hilo, with 131, with Kona a distant second with 35 reports.
Lawmakers went a step further in 2022, requiring anyone selling a catalytic converter to present identification and sign a sworn statement that the device isn’t stolen.
That step seems to be working as a deterrent, because the number of catalytic converter thefts between Jan. 1 and Sept. 9, 2023, plummeted to 31. That would project to about 45 thefts for the year.
Asked about the effect of the affidavit law, Amon-Wilkins replied, “I think that’s definitely a factor. We had a couple of arrests of individuals that were responsible for a good portion of them in that year, 2022.”
Amon-Wilkins said with the holidays approaching, people need to take proactive measures to reduce the opportunities for thieves and their own chances of becoming victims.
“I just want to remind people to lock their vehicles and try not to park them in a remote place and to not leave valuables in their car,” he said. “Park in well-lit places.
“There are people who sit in large parking lots and look for people to prey on, vehicles to be broken into and hot-wired. Pay attention to your surroundings when you park your vehicle.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.