There are 670,497 vehicles registered in Baltimore County. Of those, 78,714 are for Honda models of all shapes, sizes and years. If you are a registered owner of one of them, the police might be interested in talking with you.
Not just any Honda owner, however. Yours has to be a Civic or an Accord, built between 1990 and 2000. The color doesn't matter.
There are 13,344 of you.
Over the next few days, you should be getting a letter from the Baltimore County Police Department. Seems you own the type of car most sought by thieves. Of the 3,332 cars stolen in Baltimore County last year, 426 were Honda Accord or Civic models built between 10 and 18 years ago.
The letter, signed by Chief James W. Johnson (and posted on The Baltimore Sun's crime blog, www.baltimoresun.com/crime), simply wants to remind you to lock your doors, leave your windows rolled up, park in well-lit areas and take your cell phone, iPod and Blackberry with you - crime prevention tips you already know about but hardly ever practice.
"We're trying to get the message out and make their cars a little more difficult to steal," said Lt. Daniel Kaliszak, who runs the Regional Auto Theft Task Force, which cops affectionately refer to as RATT.
Sending out more than 13,000 letters is the department's first foray into the direct-marketing approach to crime prevention, though they already blanket neighborhoods with phone calls warning about crimes.
Honda Civics (the 1995 model) and Accords (the 1991 model) have topped the "Top ten most frequently stolen passenger vehicle" national list for the past two years, according to statistics assembled by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. (The complete list is posted on The Baltimore Sun's crime blog.)
"These cars have been consistent top sellers for many years, and some of their parts are interchangeable," the insurance institute explains on its Web site. "Thieves dismantle them for their components."
Kaliszak offer another reason for the high theft rate: "The ignitions are easier to defeat in older-model cars."
Authorities said word had to get out, warning these possibly unsuspecting Honda owners that the cars they bought more than a decade ago are being eyed by criminals. Pay particular attention if you live in Owings Mills, Catonsville, Gwynn Oak, Dundalk and Parkville. Your ZIP codes are the ones from which most of the Hondas were stolen last year in Baltimore County.
The man responsible for assembling these figures is Phil Canter, who heads the Baltimore County Police Department's crime analysis section. When he's not drawing up crime maps or figuring out burglary patterns, he's engulfed in car theft statistics.
He found the addresses of county Honda owners by going through reports from the state Motor Vehicle Administration, trying to weed out car dealerships and owners of vehicles who live in the city but share a county ZIP code. He also tried to make sure that one person who owns several Hondas gets only one letter.
The cost of this operation is a little more than $2,000, paid through a state grant. Compared with the millions of dollars lost to car theft each year, Canter said, the money spent is a bargain. "It's a very cost-effective way of making a significant impact on reducing car thefts," he said.
Of course, Canter added, "Only time will tell."
If it works, more car owners can expect similar letters. And Canter already knows who will get the next round of mail: owners of Dodge Caravans.