Saratoga, California — Vehicle thefts in California fell nearly 25 percent in 2025, the second consecutive annual decline, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday, citing targeted enforcement by the California Highway Patrol and recovery rates above 80 percent.
State figures show 111,661 stolen vehicles were recovered by law enforcement last year, an 84 percent recovery rate overall. For automobiles specifically, the recovery figure reached 92.5 percent; for personal trucks and SUVs it was 89.3 percent, and over half of the recovered vehicles went back to their owners still in drivable shape. The CHP said it recovered nearly 18,000 vehicles itself.
The decline follows the deployment of CHP officers to work alongside local agencies in crime-suppression teams the CHP first sent into a handful of inland and East Bay cities two years ago, an effort that grew wider last year. Counties where the teams operated posted some of the steepest drops: Alameda recorded 12,277 vehicle thefts, down 36.1 percent; Kern fell 31.4 percent; San Bernardino declined 23.3 percent; San Diego dropped 25.7 percent; and Sacramento fell 23 percent.
> "Vehicle theft is not a victimless crime." — CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee, who said such thefts feed organized criminal enterprises and impose real hardship on households across the state, and pledged the CHP would keep recovering stolen vehicles and supporting local law enforcement partners