A national crime statistic analysis showed three parts of the state experienced the most reports in the country.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau conducted an analysis of snowmobile theft reports across the United States. What they determined was that three regions in Alaska saw more thefts of these machines than anywhere else in the country.
There were 128 snowmobiles stolen in Alaska from 2015 through 2018; 8 percent of the U.S. total.
Anchorage, Alaska saw the highest rate of snowmobile theft in the United States. Throughout the span of time of the analysis, there were 46 machines stolen. In close second place was the Fairbanks North Star Borough, which had 44 stolen snowmobiles reported. Third place had half the theft rate of Anchorage, at 23 stolen sleds in Matanuska-Sustina Borough, as well as Anoka County near Minneapolis, Minnesota which had the same number of thefts.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau is based in Illinois and tracks vehicle thefts in many forms. That said, this report represents the first time snowmobiles have been included in the tracking, said Frank Scafidi, the bureau’s director of public affairs, in an Anchorage Daily News report.
The snowmobile theft data showed that, as predicted, areas of greatest use saw the most thefts.
“We wanted to see what would happen if we looked at snowmobiles,” explained Scafidi. “Would we find anything weird, like a bunch of thefts reported in Florida?”
The results they discovered were close to their predictions. Locations in which the snowmobile thefts were most commonly reported were also where the highest usage rates were located. That is, the more snowmobiles there were, the more likely there was to be a report of a theft.
After Alaska, the next states to see the highest numbers of thefts of the sled were Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Washington state, said the National Insurance Crime Bureau report. There was at least one machine reported stolen in 32 states across the country, one of which was Texas, interestingly enough.
The snowmobile theft analysis’ figures included reports up to 2017. Last year’s figures have yet to be analyzed. That said, according to Anchorage police, the largest city in the state has five stolen snowmobile reports on file from 2018.