Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 29, 1994                   TAG: 9401290033
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TURNING UP HEAT ON

And pay well, at that. Auto theft, for instance, could be worth $10,000 - to the good guys.

A statewide program called HEAT - Help Eliminate Auto Theft - is trying to beat thieves at their own easy-money game by offering big bucks for tips on stolen cars.

A cooperative project of Virginia law enforcement agencies and insurance companies, HEAT is committed to finding the millions of dollars worth of stolen cars that are never recovered, HEAT Administrator Michael Peters said.

Community involvement is at the heart of HEAT's efforts, which rely on a toll-free hot line to collect tips on suspicious auto shops or abandoned vehicles. Any information that leads to an arrest could mean a cash reward - up to $10,000 depending on the results - for the caller, Peters said.

"The main focus of this program is to get leads on the cars that are disappearing," said Peters, who was promoting HEAT this week at the Roanoke Courthouse. "We're not tight with this money. . . . I look forward to the time when we give $10,000."

HEAT, whose budget last year was approximately $650,000, is paid for by state insurance companies. The companies are required by law to contribute to the program based on their sales of comprehensive auto insurance, Peters said.

Although about 75 percent of the cars reported stolen in Virginia last year were recovered, the rest - $30 million to $35 million worth - disappeared, most likely into illegal chop shops where they were dismantled and sold for parts, Peters said.

Richmond and the Tidewater area led the state in auto thefts in 1993, Peters said. Roanoke reported 315 cars stolen.

Detective Dave Crawford, an auto-theft investigator with the Roanoke Police Department, said the city's auto thefts decreased in 1993 - from 351 in 1992 - but he could not attribute that directly to HEAT. He said, however, that the program has been helpful and that Roanoke residents have called the hot line with tips. No arrests have been made as a result of the information, he said, but several cases are pending.

HEAT's efforts have not stopped at locating stolen cars. Because close to 60 percent of Virginia's auto-theft arrests involve 13- to 20-year-olds, HEAT has developed a drivers' education curriculum that will be distributed to 2,500 schools across the state, Peters said. And HEAT representatives visit community groups to present tips on preventing auto theft.

Since HEAT was put into action in 1992, the program has helped recover more than $500,000 worth of stolen vehicles, Peters said. Fifty to 60 arrests have been made, with close to $8,000 in rewards distributed.

But now is not the time to relax, Peters added. "We know we can do a lot more."