[ti:Number of Stolen Vehicles Rises in Coronavirus Crisis] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The coronavirus health crisis has not been kind to car owners in the United States. [00:09.80]With many Americans staying at home, their cars are left unattended on the streets. [00:18.00]These vehicles then become easy targets for thieves. [00:23.96]Vehicle property thefts jumped 63 percent in New York, [00:29.68]and nearly 17 percent in Los Angeles, from January 1 through the middle of May 2020. [00:38.52]Those increases are in comparison to the same period last year. [00:45.40]Across the country, many law enforcement agencies [00:50.00]are reporting an increase in stolen cars and vehicle burglaries, [00:56.32]even as violent crime has dropped. [00:59.76]Police use the term vehicle burglary [01:03.52]when talking about when someone breaks into a car to steal objects from it. [01:10.40]Car thefts and vehicle burglaries are low-risk crimes with a possible high reward, police say, [01:19.76]especially when many drivers leave car doors unlocked or their keys inside. [01:27.84]"You might as well put a sticker on the window that says, ‘come take my stuff,'" [01:34.32]said Alex Villanueva, the Los Angeles County sheriff. [01:39.80]In Austin, Texas last month, police found [01:43.88]that 72 percent of stolen vehicles had their keys nearby. [01:49.56]Austin's total number of auto thefts last month rose about 50 percent [01:56.80]and burglaries to vehicles were up two percent from April 2019. [02:03.92]The public health crisis has created a "perfect storm," [02:09.60]said Austin police Sargeant Chris Vetrano. [02:13.76]Vetrano leads the auto theft force that investigates stolen vehicle cases. [02:21.36]There are reasons for that storm. [02:24.88]Drivers are at home and not using their cars very often. [02:30.60]Schools are closed, and some young people are doing bad things. [02:36.36]Criminals are out of work and have more free time [02:41.12]or need money to buy drugs or other things. [02:45.16]Vetrano told The Associated Press that the internet has, [02:50.56]in some ways, made things easy for criminals. [02:54.72]"You can get on the internet nowadays [02:57.60]and learn how to break into vehicles just searching YouTube," he said. [03:02.76]About a year ago, someone broke into Vetrano's Ford F-150 truck, [03:10.00]one of the vehicles most commonly stolen in the United States. [03:15.32]Police Detective Greg Wilking of Salt Lake City, Utah, [03:20.44]said a 22 percent increase in vehicle burglaries [03:25.12]could be from a few criminals working quickly. [03:29.12]"It's really 10 seconds," he said. [03:32.20]"They're not spending a lot of time in your car. [03:35.88]It's a smash-and-grab-and-go," sometimes during the day. [03:40.88]Wilking worries the numbers will keep rising [03:44.84]because "people get more desperate as time goes on." [03:50.12]However, in some areas, the coronavirus crisis has helped reduce crime. [03:57.44]In Baltimore, Maryland, thefts from cars fell 24 percent, [04:04.00]and stolen vehicles dropped 19 percent, from January to May. [04:10.52]The decrease is in comparison to numbers from the same period last year. [04:17.32]Colonel Richard Worley, the chief of patrol, gives some of the credit [04:22.92]to aggressive efforts to warn car owners to lock their vehicles [04:27.84]and take their keys home. [04:30.08]Owners also have been told to leave their cars in well-lit areas. [04:36.56]In addition, more people are staying home and keeping an eye on the streets. [04:42.72]Because calls for service and violent crime have decreased, [04:47.52]police officers now have time for patrolling neighborhoods. [04:52.76]It is easy to forget simple things – even for people who know better. [04:58.80]Lindsey Eldridge, of the police department's community outreach office, [05:04.72]left her keys in her car. [05:07.24]She realized her mistake just before falling asleep. [05:12.00]As Worley said: "She could have been a statistic." [05:16.68]I'm John Russell. [05:18.80]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM