Auto theft will reach a record-breaking 94,000 cases in Mexico this year but after two years of what has been perceived as lax enforcement, new efforts are being undertaken in Morelos to curb the crime.

A new operation by the Federal Police and the army has installed a mobile detection unit on the Mexico City-Cuernavaca highway. The vehicle is equipped with a license plate scanner to identify stolen vehicles, allowing security forces to respond immediately.

The detector’s mobility will prevent lawbreakers from evading the scanner because they won’t know where it will be located.

The unit will be moved to different locations around the state of Morelos.

According to the Association of Mexican Insurance Companies (AMIS), auto theft this year will be up 4.4% over last year’s 90,187 cases. The value of the stolen vehicles at the end of November was 14 billion pesos, or US $713 million.

The figure will likely be rather more because December is historically one of the worst months for auto theft.

AMIS general manager Recaredo Arias Jiménez told the newspaper Publímetro that he believes the spike in theft was the result of a relaxation in efforts to combat insecurity during the last two years of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration.

Source: Publímetro (sp)