See How Many Cars Stolen In West Haven Over Last 10 Years

WEST HAVEN, CT - There has been lots of talk in recent months about what some say is a spike in car thefts - especially by juveniles - in towns in Connecticut.

There has been legislation introduced in the legislature to treat juvenile car thieves as adult offenders in an effort to stem the thefts.

There is disagreement by those on both sides of the issue whether the thefts are actually up and whether the juveniles are the reason.

What isn't in dispute is the number of thefts. Numbers don't lie.

A report compiled by Ken Barone, project manager at the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy at Central Connecticut State University, show that car thefts actually peaked a decade ago and decreased from there but have slowly been increasing the past few years - especially in towns that are near the bigger cities in the state.

Ironically, those same cities, except for Waterbury, have seen decreases in car thefts the past few years.

Patch has gathered the numbers of car thefts in West Haven over the past 10 years (2018 numbers are not yet compiled) to show you exactly what they are:

2008: 186

2009: 199

2010: 197

2011: 182

2012: 174

2013: 243

2014: 244

2015: 108

2016: 119

2017: 114

To see how West Haven stacks up with the rest of the state, click here.