And what the constabulary cannot tell you is how many were found undamaged, returned to the owners intact!
In 2022 Kent OnLine reported that Kent police recorded 622 car thefts and had an appalling recovery rate.
A Freedom of Information Act request for the 2023 figures, revealed car thefts had risen dramatically to 1,169 in Kent of which, the police recovered 65.
We have been calling for more concerted action from all interested parties for a while now because keyless thefts by arch-villains is not always a convincing explanation.
Since 2019, the police have known there was a problem. They intended to tackle the issue by, for example, creating a Vehicle Theft Task Force. Sadly, it appears this came to nothing and as evidenced by the increasing theft and reduced recovery, if anything is being done it is either ineffective or the wrong thing!