Car owners can also be happy. In the first half of 2009 the Czech Police registered 12,176 cases of theft relating to motor vehicles, i.e. theft of cars and theft of items from cars. One year later (from 1st January to 30th June 2010) 290 fewer cars were stolen and theft from cars fell by 1,852 cases.
In total, from 2003 to 2009 the number of stolen vehicles in Prague fell by 5,771, i.e. by 55%!
Further success is shown by other half-year statistics of cases relating to motor vehicles: the number of solved cases of theft from cars has increased by more than 50 cases in the first half of 2010. Moreover, from 2003 to 2009 the number of crimes of this type fell by 11,854, i.e. by 39.1%.
In cooperation with Prague City Police the Czech Police have focused on prevention (e.g. “A car is not a Safe” project), more inspections of scrap yards and garages and have also carried out a thorough mapping of risk areas, including shopping centre carparks.
A look at the map of car theft occurrence shows that the “safest” area seems to be Prague 6, followed by Prague 7 and Prague 1. On the other hand, Lhotka and Modřany are the “riskiest”. These two city regions – together with Smíchov, Podolí, Vršovice or Strašnice – are at the top of the table for theft from cars, while Malá Strana, Holešovice, Výstaviště and Ruzyně are at the other end of the table with the least cases.