(The Center Square) – A significant decrease in motor vehicle thefts in Seattle may have helped lower the rate of other crimes committed with stolen vehicles.
As of Dec. 20, there have been 5,573 reports of motor vehicle theft in Seattle. This represents a 24.67% decrease from 7,398 in 2024.
The Seattle Police Department briefed the Public Safety Committee on Dec. 9 about its year-end crime statistics. SPD Crime and Community Harm Reduction Executive Director Lee Hunt said that 24.675 drop is a “significant decrease” that the department has not seen in regards to motor vehicle theft historically in Seattle.
He added that proactive policing in areas with patterns of car thefts and burglaries may have played a significant role in the drop in data.
Car theft has been a significant issue for Seattle as an April Forbes study noted that the city had 4.36 fatal car accidents for every 100,000 residents, and 602 car thefts per 100,000 residents. The study rated Seattle as the 18th worst big city in the nation for drivers.
Seattle leaders emphasized that car thefts have ripple effects as those stolen cars are used to commit other crimes. This includes Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson, who noted crime against small businesses.
“Cars are used to drive through the front of small businesses to get the ATM and back,” Nelson said during the Dec. 9 committee meeting. “It is extremely important that we have this reduction.”
Fellow City Councilmember Maritza Rivera said stolen vehicles are also used for other serious crimes like human trafficking.
According to the data presented to the Seattle Public Safety Committee, Seattle saw 3,863 fewer crime victims across seven crime categories in the first 11 months of 2025. This includes 37 homicides, down from 53 in 2024 and 58 in 2019, which SPD identified as the last comparable year for the category. There were also nine fewer non-fatal injury shootings – from 137 to 98 – a 28% reduction.
Last year, Seattle approved the expanded use of Automated License Plate Reader, or ALPR, technology to 360 SPD vehicles, including six patrol boats and roughly 270 marked patrol cars. When the expansion was pitched, SPD expected the use of ALPR to allow officers to better take on the growing vehicle theft problem.
However, Hunt said the department has no indication the technology reduced cars being stolen. The system gets alerted after a car is stolen, so it’s not preventative.
SPD did not provide comment to The Center Square at the time of this publication due to limited staffing for the holiday week.
