Pueblo law enforcement receive grant to help fight car thefts

Pueblo is no stranger to car thefts. With its population size, it has one of the highest rates in the country, but law enforcement is trying to fight the statistics with tools from the state.

The police department and other agencies received a grant from the state of Colorado that gave them 200 steering wheel locking devices. Sergeant Frank Ortega with the department says they will be given out to those who need it most, “The whole purpose is to get people to think of how to secure their vehicles.” They will be given to those who have older model cars that are highly susceptible to theft.

According to the police department, the top three stolen cars in Pueblo are mid to late 90s Honda Civic’s, early to mid-90s Honda Accord’s, and early to mid-2000s Ford F-150’s. Ortega says these models have very poor anti-theft systems. They have seen thefts where the same car was stolen multiple times within a few days.”It will be reported stolen, we’ll recover it and give it back to the owner then it gets stolen again sometimes within the same week.” Ortega says. Authorities hope this will put a dent in the number of cars are stolen this year.