car thefts in Saudi Arabia Riyadh

RIYADH: With a total of 120000 car thefts between 2010 and 2019, Riyadh tops the list of cities where the negative trend is rising, says a study.
The city is a magnet for people seeking work from other towns and villages in the Kingdom and abroad. It has a population of 6 million, with 5.5 million living in the city, and Saudis making up 66 percent.
Mohammad bin Nayef Saleh of Naif Arab University for Security Sciences who has concluded the study “Strategic Vision to Fight Vehicle Theft in Riyadh Region” said there were around 882,000 housing units, with 725,000 of them in the city itself.
The study showed Riyadh’s population has grown rapidly from 26,000 in 1931, with this urbanization resulting in increased car theft and other offenses such as drifting.
The study showed that despite hefty penalties, car theft was still increasing. In 2014 there were 9,000 stolen, with the police recovering 4,200. This increased in 2015 to 20,136 vehicles. In Makkah, car theft increased to 2,881 and in Dammam to 1,325 cars.
In Riyadh region, the study showed most theft took place after dark when vehicles were not monitored, in service lanes and on the fringes of neighborhoods, and mostly of new cars.
His study suggests new methods be found to counter this trend including more patrols, hidden cameras on main and service lanes, undercover stings and heavier penalties for offenders.
He found that this crime was rising because of greater urbanization which negatively affects social behavior, and better technology to carry out these offenses, reported a local daily on Friday.