Getting the message: Stolen vehicle numbers show sharp drop; recoveries improve

After years of seeing a steady uptick in stolen vehicles in Sioux Falls, the public has responded, and the number is trending down.

The overall number of stolen vehicles peaked at more than 1,600 in 2023, up from 638 thefts in 2018.

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In response, the City Council authorized $50,000 for a community awareness campaign to remind Sioux Falls drivers to lock their vehicles. The campaign was split between 2023 and 2024.

By 2024, the number had started to come down — to 1,366.

And while 2025 overall crime statistics haven’t been released yet, when they do come out next month, it’s expected they will show at least a 30 percent drop in vehicle thefts compared with 2024 — essentially as low as before the pandemic and subsequent population surge.

Anecdotally, Sgt. Aaron Benson sees it many weekends as he peruses calls for service before his Monday public information briefing.

“The last few months, every Monday, or Tuesday after a holiday, I would stress how the numbers are down,” he said.

On one recent Monday, there were nine reported thefts over the weekend. Eight of the stolen vehicles had a key in them, and the other was a trailer.

“Having nine vehicles stolen after a weekend is way down,” he said. “It’s really down from what I used to see.”

Benson credits a combination of factors: consistent public messaging, accountability once cases reach the state’s attorney’s office and a blend of technology and collaboration within the Sioux Falls Police Department.

The department’s real-time information center sees when stolen vehicles are reported.

Often, it happens when someone leaves a running vehicle outside a house, apartment building or gas station, Lt. Kevin Henkel said.

“There’s an alert out to officers right away, so they can start looking minutes after it happens,” he said.

He also sees instances trending down.

“I really believe with the information we put out, people started to listen,” Henkel said. “We would get multiple in the mornings on these cold days … and it’s just not happening. There’s one or two occasionally.”

When vehicles are stolen, the city’s new license-plate-reading technology can help, too, combined with a network of traffic cameras also used by the city’s street division.

“We do a search … to see where the car was in town when it was stolen and see if we can track where the vehicle was last seen,” he said.

“We always say it’s another tool in the tool belt. There’s just so much we never had a clue what was happening before, where they’ve given us the opportunity to solve some of those crimes.”

There were 37 stolen vehicles recovered in 2025, with an estimated collective value of $329,000 — that’s roughly four times what the license-plate-reading technology cost.

“I’ve been more than satisfied what they’ve done for us,” Henkel said. “And that’s just on stolen vehicles.”

In other cases, traveling criminals will break into people’s cars — often early in the morning at the gym, for instance, he said.

“They’re smashing windows and grabbing blank checks, and it’s usually in rental cars,” he said. “But we’re able to get a license plate, trace that across the country working with other departments and piece together these … actually holding someone accountable in the end.”

The ripple effect from stolen vehicles can be significant.

“A lot of times, it’s a form of currency,” said Sgt. Pete Blankenfeld, who supervises the Violent Crimes Unit.

“Somebody might steal a vehicle because it’s a crime of opportunity, and then they can sell it to somebody else for a couple hundred bucks or trade for something else.”

The cash can be used to buy drugs, firearms or other stolen property, he said.

“With the Violent Crimes Unit, we’re not out specifically trying to find these stolen vehicles, but because of the nature of the business or the people we’re trying to apprehend, a lot of times they have stolen cars … or there’s an area of town they frequent, and there’s other criminal activity happening, and the stolen vehicles pop up a lot,” Blankenfeld said, adding that the unit works closely with the real-time information center.

“Like any industry with technology advances, you have to take advantage of it,” he said. “We work hand in hand to try and apprehend these people in the stolen vehicles, and a lot of times, it leads to things like a warrant arrest or firearms or drugs or other stolen property. One simple thing like a stolen vehicle can lead to a lot more.”