DAYTON — The bold theft of an RTA van in downtown Dayton this week has Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck once again advising everyone to lock their cars to keep them out of the clutches of thieves he said have been stealing for attention.
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The seemingly unending wave of vehicle thefts has been occurring from one end of the state to the other, Streck said.
“We’re getting stolen recoveries from Hamilton County (greater Cincinnati) Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), you know, just all over Ohio,” he told News Center 7 Reporter Kayla McDermott.
“And then they’re [other jurisdictions in Ohio] also finding our stolen cars.”
The RTA van that was stolen Monday evening was parked on the RTA Hub platform -- the keys had been left inside. Streck said that fact doesn’t surprise him because vehicle owners are too trusting and that mindset has to stop.
“Normally, I don’t even lock my car. I’m kind of a trusting person,” Dayton resident Sabrina Moore said.
No one should be leaving their car unlocked or leaving the keys -- or key fob -- inside, the sheriff said.
“We now have Camaros, Mustangs, [the] Chevy [Tahoe], all kinds of vehicles” being stolen, he said.
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In 2023, there have been more than 350 grand theft auto incidents in the areas the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for -- and fewer than half of those vehicles have been recovered, according to the sheriff’s office.
Compounding the vehicle theft problem is that too often, vehicle owners are leaving valuable and dangerous items inside, such as firearms.
“The scariest thing is people are leaving firearms inside of their cars and we’re having firearms taken,” he said.
Harry Fisher, also of Dayton, said that presents a worrisome problem because those guns fall into the wrong hands.
“Who knows what’s happening?” he said.
People who steal cars also do it for attention, the sheriff said.
“They want views. So if you steal a forklift and do donuts in the middle of Brown Street down at UD, they know that’s going to get a lot of views and that’s what they care about,” he said.
Dayton, as do other cities throughout the country, has a stolen car problem. In April, the city ranked No. 1 on carvertical.com’s list of cities with the highest number of stolen cars per capita.
During a week in February, police reported that thieves stole nearly 40 cars in Dayton -- mostly Kia and Hyundai brands that were the focus of social media challenges showing people how to easily steal those particular cars.
Nearly a year ago, Streck’s office created an auto theft suppression task force, a nod to his notion that stemming the tide of vehicle thefts will take every law enforcement agency working together.
Moore expressed the sentiments of all area drivers trying to navigate the continuing criminal tide.
“You should feel safe coming downtown to let loose on the weekends,” she said. “We should feel safe to park our cars.”