Law enforcement agencies across New York state are in the process of applying for funding from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Auto-Theft Reduction Strategy Plan, a five-point plan that provides $55 million to stolen vehicle prevention efforts.

While the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office awaits approval of that funding, the Stolen Vehicle Task Force says numbers are starting to level off compared to the beginning of the year.

"We’re talking about going down this year. So I really I like to describe it as plateaued, because when you look at it long term, it goes back 18 years. You’re not going to say they’re done down from 19, 20, 21," Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter explained at a news conference Thursday morning.

The department says it’s experiencing, on average, a 240% increase in stolen vehicles since 2010. Baxter says they’ve seen more than 4,000 victims so far this year.

"We all know that stolen vehicles are a prolific problem in our community," Baxter said. "When we have numbers like this: 4,000 victims this year of stolen vehicles, one of our jobs is to protect people from harm. So we got to do our law enforcement and what we did is put together a really prolific task force, a very proactive, multi-jurisdictional test force that went on this problem."

Barbara Wise became a victim last month. She was a week into her retirement when her Hyundai Elantra was stolen. She says this situation took a toll on her finances.

"I was retired Sept. 5, I went back the next week," Wise explained. "Probably $500 out of my pocket."

On the police report, Wise was given the name, address, and phone number of her alleged car thief, so she stopped by their home.

"I went over the first time, knocked on the door to talk to him and the mother answered," she recalled. "She talked to me for a long time and I felt really bad for her because she said, ‘he’s impossible,’ or whatever it is, ‘he’s hard to control.’"

Wise, a mother of three, sympathized for the challenges families can face.

"She has a lot of health issues in, you know, that alone,” Wise said. “But she has two daughters. [She] said she had another son that got killed in 2012 and with him, she goes, ‘I don’t know where to go,’ so she said, ‘as far as I know, he does it again? Lock him up.’”

Investigator James Coco has been in charge of the MCSO’s Stolen Vehicle Taskforce. He says many of the offenders are minors with ranging from as young as 12 years old to young adults. Therefore, the task force has been taking a different approach for the minors by charging them with a misdemeanor, rather than a felony.

"[These] 16- and 17-year-olds charged with a felony would go to Monroe County Youth Part Court in New York state. Bail reform was applied. The problem with that was, they would be given an appearance ticket and sent on their way with no diversion whatsoever. So a 16- or 17-year-old, if I charged a misdemeanor, I am then able to lock them up to give some kind of intervention to get them off the streets in a much safer environment so we can use it to our advantage," he explained.

The department reports there have been 16 misdemeanor arrests, 15 felony arrests, 42 warrants served and 21 stolen vehicles recovered this year.

Baxter explained the need for these sort-of interventions, or "time outs," to get these kids into a safer environments until the kids can really address what’s been going on.

"I think you’re ready to go home. You know what? I think you have not complied. You refused to cooperate. And you need to sit down for 48 more hours to figure something out. Really, that you’re going to change. And we can look at that. It’s really quite simple. It’s a dangerous standard and a repeat offender standard," he said.

According to the taskforce, these measures have been working.

"We don’t see them again. And so that’s less victims in the future, but there’s less risk to my deputies and my police officers out there chasing these guys around us [and] less risk to the kids and the young people that are stealing these cars,” Baxter said. “So that’s what it’s all about.”

Funding for these initiatives currently comes from the county. However, while MCSO continues waiting for funding from Gov. Hochul, they hope the county’s statistics will show the state that the area is in higher demand.

Baxter reflects on the past few years, starting with a surge in smash-and-grabs two years ago, last year a common crime was catalytic converts, now stolen vehicles is the problem at hand.

"Last year, catalytic converter. This year, stolen vehicles. Next year, who knows. It’s coming," he said.

Now, he hopes the state funding they wait to receive will reflect a higher need.