Typically cars get stolen for temporary-ish use - to commit a crime somewhere, go joyriding, to strip for parts, etc.
It might only be on the road for 2-8 hours. Maybe a day.
To catch someone during the window of opportunity it would make sense requires a lot of things to happen in quick succession - the owner needs to notice, a report with all the necessary details needs to be entered, and they need to go by a reader - and an officer needs to follow up in a timely fashion before the ‘lead’ goes stale.
Sometimes departments will have their acts together enough that it’s possible, but usually they don’t. Police departments are part of the government too, after all. Most of the time if the car is found at all, it will be found days later abandoned on the other side of town, or on blocks.
The ‘best’ often have an officer (or 2) obsessed with catching stolen cars, and some of them will catch 10-12 in a shift. It’s genuinely impressive watching them work.
It might only be on the road for 2-8 hours. Maybe a day.
To catch someone during the window of opportunity it would make sense requires a lot of things to happen in quick succession - the owner needs to notice, a report with all the necessary details needs to be entered, and they need to go by a reader - and an officer needs to follow up in a timely fashion before the ‘lead’ goes stale.
Sometimes departments will have their acts together enough that it’s possible, but usually they don’t. Police departments are part of the government too, after all. Most of the time if the car is found at all, it will be found days later abandoned on the other side of town, or on blocks.
The ‘best’ often have an officer (or 2) obsessed with catching stolen cars, and some of them will catch 10-12 in a shift. It’s genuinely impressive watching them work.