Portland’s Daily Stolen Car Count

Portland’s Daily Stolen Car Count

Property crime – including car thefts and break-ins – have become the new pandemic in Portland for both 2021 and 2022. In 2021 we reached a 25 year high in car thefts with over 1000 car thefts per month. 2022 is shaping up to be the same or worse.

It’s not uncommon to see vehicles without license plates driving around city streets and even randomly crashed into buildings. Since last year, Portland police can no longer pull cars over for traffic infractions, missing tags, expired registration, etc. It may soon be Oregon state law that police cannot pull anyone over for minor infractions.

Much like the old Portland Stabtown counter, there is now a new PDXStolenCars.com that keeps tally on the location and stolen vehicle count each day. They also list the most common open-air chop shops and dumping locations for boosted cars since local police no longer pursue such cases.

2 thoughts on “Portland’s Daily Stolen Car Count

  1. I am so baffled by this. My tags were expired by ONE MONTH because I have been too busy to get into DMV. I got pulled over and fined 150.00. I fixed it but the judge refused to reduce the fine. At the same time, I see COUNTLESS cars with no plates. What is up? How is this okay?

    1. Sadly, I wish I had an answer for you. It appears the only government agency actually doing their job in Portland is the parking and meter reading department.
      I think we’re the victims of a bunch of unintended consequences from over-zealous political forces that didn’t think through their actions. As the 2 articles indicate, the city and state leadership has decided that enforcing moving violations is now prohibited. Portland police seems to also have listened to the community outcry against police and enforcement that occurred during the months of continual BLM riots in 2021 and 2022.
      The police department cites a lack of officers after a large quantity of retirements, officers quitting for better jurisdictions, and difficulty hiring for a police department known for being in a hostile community environment. Others say it’s just classic union slowdown tactics.
      Regardless of the source and reasons, it seems like we have a clear lack of leadership at city and state level in dealing with this entirely predictable and preventable crime wave.

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