ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office reported Tuesday that auto thefts have significantly dropped over the past year.The number of auto thefts in the county dropped 36% from 2023 to 2024, while the number of arrests more than doubled during that same time period, from 40 to 84.The sheriffs office said the 2021 creation of a special response team played a major role in reducing those numbers."We were so busy with calls, whether it was helping investigators, our federal partners, arresting people with warrants, or responding to our own high-risk calls for service, we were pulling our SWAT team members from their other assignments, and that was creating staffing shortages. We formed this team because we desperately needed it," Sgt. Nick Rodriguez said in a statement.Rodriguez said technology is another reason for the drop in auto thefts. License plate readers have helped law enforcement track stolen vehicles.He said it's important to get these criminals off the street."These car thieves are robbing people, shooting people, stealing, burglarizing, carjacking, you name it. Ninety percent of the time, there's either guns or drugs or fentanyl and they're ruining people's cars," Rodriguez said. ...read more read less