With the number of stolen cars increasing in Eden Prairie and the Twin Cities metro area, the EPPD has obtained a new tool to help combat this trend. Through a grant from the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the EPPD is leasing 13 portable Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) that can be posted around the city in locations where vehicle theft is high.

The cameras inside ALPRs capture images of license plates in real time and if a plate is included on the BCA’s list of stolen vehicles, the ALPR informs officers of the match. Since the program rolled out in December 2021, the department has recovered eight vehicles and made seven arrests resulting from stolen vehicles.

It is important to note that criminals who steal cars do not often stay in the jurisdiction where the crime occurred. They frequently use the stolen cars to go to other cities and commit crimes there. All eight of the vehicles recovered by the EPPD were actually stolen in other cities.

For example, on March 14, officers were alerted to an APLR hit near an Eden Prairie retail area for a car that had been stolen out of Minneapolis in a strong-armed carjacking. When Eden Prairie officers tried to arrest the driver, he rammed a squad car, causing damage, and attempted to drive away. The officer was then able to safely disable the vehicle. The suspect exited the car and fled on foot. Officers quickly caught up with him and arrested him for Assault, Receiving Stolen Property, Fleeing in a Motor Vehicle, Failure to Stop and No Minnesota Driver’s License. The suspect was a 17-year-old from Minneapolis.  

Officers are doing a great job preventing and recovering stolen vehicles but we need help from residents too! You can help prevent your own vehicle from being stolen by making sure to lock all vehicles parked in your driveway, removing garage door openers from vehicles parked in driveways, and shutting garage doors at all times, especially during overnight hours.