FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Car thefts dropped nationwide in 2010 for the seventh consecutive year, but the National Insurance Crime Bureau reports that California’s crop-abundant Central Valley showed an increase in vehicle thefts.
The data released Tuesday show three areas in the Valley — Fresno, Modesto and Bakersfield-Delano — are the top three hotspots for car thefts nationwide. The report ranks 366 metropolitan areas based on the number of vehicle thefts per 100,000 people.
California is considered the capital of car culture, and it dominates the 2010 list of hotspots, with eight of the nation’s top 10 car theft areas.
The Vallejo-Fairfield area ranks fifth, Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville is sixth, Stockton seventh, Visalia-Porterville is eighth and the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area ranks ninth. The other two areas in the top 10 are Spokane and Yakima, Wash.
