Southfield police share auto theft prevention tips

SOUTHFIELD — In response to the uptick in automobile thefts, Deputy Chief Aaron Huguley said that Southfield is not an anomaly.

In the past month, the city has had around 20 vehicles stolen.

“This is not a Southfield issue,” Huguley said. “It’s not even just a southeastern Michigan issue. It’s a national issue. Auto thefts have been on the rise in recent years due to technology.”

Huguley explained that auto theft is a high-volume crime in Southfield due to the many apartment complexes and hotels within the city.

“Those properties’ parking lots are just open to the public. They want to make it easy for their guests to freely come and leave that property. And so car thieves go to these locations with a vast amount of cars. And, ultimately, they can just walk by a car and pull on the handle to see whether or not the door’s unlocked or the windows are down. And that’s indicative in this time frame that we’re talking about. Of these 20 incidents, none of them were taken from homes.”

Huguley explained that most vehicles that are stolen tend to be used for other crimes or stripped for parts.

To prevent your vehicle from being stolen, Huguley emphasized the importance of hardening your target.

He said that if two of the same vehicles are parked next to each other, and one has a steering wheel lock, then the criminal will target the vehicle without the lock.

According to Huguley, it is best to consider the parking situation before moving into an apartment complex.

He explained that it is better to opt for an apartment complex that is either gated or patrolled. If a complex does not include these elements, he advises people to always park in well-lit areas if they do not have a garage. He added that steering wheel locks are effective, and that people should never leave the key to the lock in the vehicle, because criminals will check the glovebox or center console first.

He stated that recent technology utilizing key fobs has allowed criminals to use computers and various techniques to reprogram the fobs in order to gain entry to vehicles. Huguley emphasized that Kia and Hyundai vehicles were particularly susceptible to crimes of this nature.

“There was a discovery by criminals that the steering columns in many Kia models, as well as Hyundai vehicles, that you could use a USB type device, put it in the ignition and start the car. This was a shortcoming on behalf of the manufacturer. What they’ve since done to rectify the problem is to recall the different models into dealerships and update that portion of the steering column. They’ve also issued out steering wheel locks in the meantime to target harden to make it a little more difficult to take the vehicle, even if the criminal got inside of it.”

The Southfield Police Department responded to this issue by partnering with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Auto Theft Unit, which includes a collection of detectives from all across Oakland County.

The task force is broken up into two segments, the northern end and the southern end. Southfield has a detective assigned to the task force.

Huguley added that there are a number of detectives assigned to this task force, including ones from Farmington Hills, Hazel Park and many other Oakland County communities. An undercover detective from the task force stated that “auto theft has been a constant problem throughout all the Oakland County communities. With that, we have a lot of investigative techniques that we use. We put trackers on cars, we do follow-ups on suspects and we do a lot of search warrants for records. We’re involved in the prosecution and in trying to prevent the actual crime from happening and giving the community more information and tools to help prevent these types of crimes.”

Huguley said Southfield police are also taking advantage of technology by using license plate readers and using the “PIT maneuver,” which is a precision immobilization technique that officers use to stop the vehicle if the driver attempts to evade them.

“We utilize the PIT maneuver in a safe fashion to try to immobilize the vehicle before it can become a danger to the motoring public. And we’ve been extremely successful in using that to hold the occupants responsible and take them into custody.”

Additionally, the Southfield Police Department reached out to a spokesperson from Hyundai, who provided them with 120 steering wheel locks to give to the public, free of charge. Huguley stated that some supplies still remain on a first-come, first-served basis and that anyone interested in picking one up can visit the police station’s front desk.

Huguley stated that the public has been “phenomenal” and a tremendous help to the Police Department when it comes to identifying suspicious vehicles and behavior.