Police reject criticism for low retrieval rate of stolen vehicles

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SANTIAGO.- Captain José Carrera, of the Vehicle Search Unit of Police, has rejected criticism from the Chilean Association of Insurance Companies (AACH), which indicated that police have not taken sufficient action against vehicle theft.

The criticism has surfaced after the latest figure released by the AACH yesterday indicated a surge in car theft, predicting that 1,912 vehicles will be stolen this year.

"We are working with the automobile stock on a national level and the Department is performing all investigations necessary for each vehicle that is reported stolen in an attempt to recover them (…). During the first half of this year, a total of 8 thousand vehicles were stolen throughout the country and 5,223 of them were recovered", stated the captain.

The police captain also told Radio Cooperativa that even if it is true that during the first half of the year cases of car theft rose by 203, the recuperation of the vehicles has also risen proportionally.