Dude, Your Car Was Stolen

A resident of the Barcelona apartment complex on Juniper Street returned home after a weekend away to find her 1994 Acura Integra stolen. The theft occurred sometime between Thursday morning, March 5, and Sunday evening on the 8th.

The resident (who wished to remain anonymous) said that after reporting the incident to the managers of the apartment complex, they commented that hers was the second car stolen in the past three weeks.

The City of San Diego reported 10,677 car thefts in 2008. According to Sergeant Dickinson of the SDPD (the officer on site the night of the reported theft), that number is expected to grow as the economy worsens.

According to Wikipedia, auto-theft rates peaked nationally in 1991 and 2001, coinciding with national recessions, and studies show that crime rates typically rise in times of economic decline and unemployment.

Some say it is a sign of the times and that people are getting desperate or bored, but for the Banker’s Hill resident whose car was stolen, “It feels like a personal attack on my private space, it really makes me feel vulnerable.”