Car theft constitutes an important problem in the United Kingdom and the countries of North America. The number of stolen motor vehicles has prompted lawmakers to obligate car manufacturers to make mechanical security more sophisticated. Although the theft rate has decreased, perpetrators found new ways to appropriate vehicles. The most prominent strategy is stealing keys, which give offenders access to cars. It is therefore essential to understand what ways of obtaining keys are used by car thieves.
The main source of information on methods of key theft are offenders themselves. Incarcerated individuals, who were involved in car theft one way or another, participated in interviews. The respondents differed in race, age, and overall criminal record. The goal of interviews was to ascertain the intent of offenders, employ methods of car theft, and other crime-related details. Although all respondents engaged in a car theft at some point, most of them were arrested for activities unrelated to car theft. It implies that stealing cars is a situational crime in many cases.
There are several reasons for perpetration, presented by the offenders. The first is alert opportunism, which means that offenders did not intend to engage in cart theft, yet they recognized an easy opportunity. Such actions are not pre-planned, require minimal effort and have low risk. An important feature of alert opportunism is the responsibility of car owners, who fail to ensure basic security measures. Alert opportunism also does not imply that perpetrators were not planning to commit any crime at all. It is entirely possible that a person with the intent of burglary found keys and took advantage of them.
Another reason, which leads to auto theft, is active search. Unlike alert opportunists, who were not planning on stealing initially, active search presupposes criminal intent in the beginning. It should also be noted that car owners are once again responsible for presenting offenders with a theft opportunity. Active searchers seek open cars with keys left in them. Offenders also use people’s lack of caution to their advantage, by searching in highly populated areas and in places where alcohol drinking is rampant. In some cases, it is easier for offenders to wait until an opportunity arises, once again taking advantage of people’s carelessness. Some active searchers employ a more direct approach, such as infiltrating homes with the express intent of stealing car keys.
Both active searchers and alert opportunists avoid meeting car owners. However, there is a different strategy, which presupposes establishing contact with the owner. One way to obtain keys is to threaten owners with weapons. Another method is to use substances, which prevent victims from resisting a carjacking attempt. In both cases, a perpetrator meets a car owner and obtains keys from them with the use of objects that put victims’ lives at risk.
There are various reasons for the offenders’ decision to engage in a carjacking. Sometimes, perpetrators are not skilled enough at stealing cars, which propels them to use force to obtain keys. Carjacking may also be the result of alert opportunism when offenders resort to presented carjacking opportunities while committing other crimes. Naturally, some offenders purposely seek an owner with the desired car, physically confront them and obtain keys by force. Such an approach is an example of an active search for carjackers.
However, meeting a car owner does not necessarily presuppose carjacking. Some offenders use manipulation techniques to persuade car owners to allow them in the vicinity of keys. It is important to understand that manipulation requires substantial preparation on the perpetrator’s end. In some cases, manipulators replace real keys with forged ones, which is initially unnoticed by owners. In other situations, offenders use clay to make a mould of keys. However, sometimes, manipulators convince owners into actually giving them keys or leaving the offender alone in a vehicle with keys in it. In all cases, manipulators use conversation techniques to keep a victim distracted and unsuspecting of a potential crime.
Keys are essential in starting a car, but obtaining one particular set of keys may not actually be necessary to do. There are keys that fit different models, which are known as master keys. These keys are obtained from official car dealerships under the pretext of accidentally locking a car with keys inside. Master keys are subsequently copied and distributed among other offenders. Another way of creating a set of master keys is by modifying an existing car key. Although using master keys is primarily limited to some cars manufactured in the 1900s, it does substantially facilitate car theft.
Historically, the most preferred way of auto theft prevention the is mechanical improvement of security of cars. As vehicles become increasingly sophisticated, so does the task of stealing them. Offenders’ strategy is now directed at obtaining car keys, which will allow them access to the vehicles. As a result, not only is the problem of auto theft not resolved, but it continues to be a serious public issue. It can even be stated that vehicle hardening may have actually propelled offenders to learn and become better at techniques allowing them to obtain car keys.
The analysis of offenders who engage in car theft shows that opportunism does not account for all car-related crimes. While many offenders do take advantage of the opportunities presented by the carelessness of car owners, many of them are actually motivated to actively seek car owners. These perpetrators are rational in their perception of the challenges behind a car theft. Many of them are willing to learn and master advanced skills of manipulation and carjacking. At the same time, carjacking may also be performed by unskilled offenders, who use direct force to obtain keys. In all cases, increased mechanical security of cars is successfully bypassed.
In essence, the efforts of social campaigns, which encourage car owners to remember to lock cars, have been rendered meaningless by the criminal shift towards obtaining car keys. It is therefore imperative to reevaluate car theft prevention strategies. The attention should be focused on the security of car keys and their spares. The better owners can protect them, the more difficult it will be for perpetrators to obtain them.
This advice is also applicable to commercial car dealerships, who regularly fail to identify perpetrators. Many offenders appear to be customers, while in reality, they are criminals who take advantage of salespeople’s carelessness. Ultimately, it is up to key owners to minimize the risk of key theft. It is entirely reasonable to suggest that without the negligence of regular people, many car thefts would not occur precisely because the potential offenders would not spot an easy opportunity. Considering the allure of easy rewards, it is essential to minimize the possibility of such circumstances.