Car thefts have been becoming a more common crime just about everywhere over the past few years, but there appears to be a break in the pattern.

According to the Council on Criminal Justice, there have been 18% fewer vehicle thefts through the first half of the year compared to the first half of 2023.

Locking up your car is simple but commonly overlooked.

“Vehicles can be taken so quickly,” said Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins.

The department reported 315 and 569 vehicle thefts in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

“The vast majority of those thefts were taken from vehicles that were left running,” Hawkins said.

So the department launched a public awareness program, in which officers would approach people leaving their cars running while unattended.

“You know, you can get a violation for it, your vehicle can get stolen. These vehicles are sometimes used in violence,” the chief explained.

And it’s working. The chief says there has been about a 45% decrease of vehicle thefts in recent months.

Other New York cities are reporting a similar downward trend.

In Buffalo, more than 2,100 vehicles were stolen by this time last year compared to the 1,314 stolen so far this year. Nearly 1,000 vehicles have been stolen in Rochester this year, a far cry from the nearly 4,000 stolen last year amid a trend exploiting Hyundai and Kia security flaws.

Meanwhile, in Syracuse, vehicle thefts are up nearly 50%.

Melanie O’Malley owns a bakery in Troy and recently had a close call with her car.

“There were kids by my car, and I went to hit the panic button on my keys to just mess with them and get them to go away,” she recalled. “I realized I didn’t have my keys.”

The kids had been in her shop moments before and managed to snag her car keys. O’Malley approached them and they ran off.

“I don’t know if they were trying to steal the car,” she said. “Maybe just a moment of opportunity to see what they could get out of the car.”

O’Malley filed a police report and learned there were other similar reports around the Collar City.

“Once the adrenaline died down, we all agreed that it would have been funny for them to watch and try to steal a car because it’s a stick shift,” O’Malley said jokingly. “It has a moody clutch.”

While the trend is down, CCJ reports the rate of vehicle thefts through the first half of the year is 66% higher than it was in 2019.