Denver police ask residents to tell them about recovered stolen cars
DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Police Department took to social media with a request for residents: If you report your car as stolen but find it without the help of police, let them know.
The department elaborated on one of the incidents that happened on June 19 where they made contact with people in cars that had been reported stolen but had, unknowingly to police, been returned to their rightful owner.
In one incident, it turned out a family member took the vehicle without the owner knowing and was later returned.
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The owner did not report this to police, so DPD said the vehicle remained listed as stolen on both the national and the state auto theft database.
Officers saw the vehicle and approached it thinking that it was being driven by a theft suspect. However, officers quickly learned the driver was the owner.
According to a report released in March, there were a reported 32,976 car thefts in the state in 2023, which was down 21% from 2022.
That equals around 560 cars stolen for every 100,000 residents in the state.
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