PHOENIX -- So you think the car that's been parked up the block for a week might be stolen? Or maybe the one that just cut you off in traffic?
A new system unveiled Thursday will allow you -- or anyone with access to the World Wide Web by computer or Internet-accessible cell phone -- to instantly check. And that, said Attorney General Terry Goddard, will create extra "eyes on the street" for law enforcement.
But David Felix, deputy director of the state Department of Public Safety, cautioned would-be detectives to leave the real police work to the professionals.
"We don't need folks to either try to confront individuals where they've found a vehicle that may be stolen," he said. "They need to contact the local authorities and have them come and respond to that."
The web site is in direct response to the fact that Arizona in 2004 had the third highest rate of car and truck thefts in the nation, with 55,308 vehicles stolen. Enrique Cantu, director of the Arizona Automobile Theft Authority, said the instant access will do more than help find vehicles in the state.
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He said nearly 40 percent of cars and trucks stolen in the state are never recovered, with the assumption that many of these wind up in Mexico. Cantu said Mexican police agencies have shown an increasing interest in tracking down these vehicles but find that they cannot get prompt responses to queries directly to local police departments as to whether a particular car or truck is stolen.
This site, Cantu said, can be used by Mexican agencies to get an immediate answer.
Goddard said it took some time to set up the site -- both to ensure its security and timely updates as well as to limit what kind of information is available.
The site at www.theftaz.azag.gov accepts input two ways: by license plate or vehicle identification number. The latter, said Goddard, can be particularly helpful for those buying a vehicle and wanting to find out if it has been stolen.
What comes back is either a response that there is no theft report or that it has been listed as stolen, along with the name and phone number of the reporting agency.
"We won't tell you who the owner is, we won't tell you any other information," Goddard said. "We specifically are not providing access to the general criminal database."
Donna Neill, director of NAILEM, a neighborhood activist group in Phoenix, said she believes the site will be very helpful to groups like hers.
"When we call the police, a car parked in front of my house is not a high priority," she said. Neill said, though, if the caller can tell police the vehicle is listed as stolen the request is likely to get more immediate attention.
