Over the past 12 months, 108 vehicles were reported stolen to Bend Police.

About the same number was stolen in the previous 12-month period, but overall there’s a downward trend in motor vehicle theft, according to information provided to The Bulletin last week by the Bend Police Records Division.

“I think any decrease can be attributed to many subjective factors,” said Bend Police spokesman Lt. Clint Burleigh. “Whether people are locking their vehicles more regularly, more police presence or less desire by suspects.”

Of the 341 vehicles reported stolen in Bend in the past three years, the most popular models to steal were Ford trucks (F150, F250 and F350) with 18, followed by the Honda Civic (16), Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee (11) and Honda Accord (11).

The most commonly targeted makes were Ford (46), Toyota (37), Honda (34), Chevrolet (30), Dodge (21), Jeep (17) and Subaru (15).

Despite Bend’s image as a Subaru-friendly city, only four Outbacks and two Foresters were reported stolen in the past three years.

White vehicles were the most commonly targeted by thieves, with 76 reported stolen, followed by black (65), silver (38), red (31), green (28) and blue (27).

In addition, thieves stole or attempted to steal 16 motorcycles, four snowmobiles, four semitrucks and two passenger/courier vans.

Of the 341 reported vehicle thefts, Bend Police made an arrest in 106 cases.

The Bend-Redmond Metropolitan Statistical Area ranked 289th for vehicle thefts in the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s list of Hot Spots for 2017. The U.S. city with the highest rate of car theft per capita last year was Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro area ranked 19th nationally and first in Oregon. It was followed by Grants Pass, Salem, Medford, Eugene and Albany. In Oregon, only the Corvallis metropolitan statistical area had a lower rate of car theft per capita in 2017 than Bend-Redmond.

A number of Oregon cities smaller than Bend reported a greater number of motor vehicle thefts, according to the most recent information available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Albany (population 52,544) reported 110 vehicle thefts in 2016, compared to Bend’s 92. Grants Pass (population 37,317) reported 207 thefts, Medford (population 80,794) reported 409 and Roseburg (population 22,159) reported 103.

In 2016, there were 4,924 vehicle thefts reported to the Portland Police Bureau (Portland’s population is 642,129).

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, gandrews@bendbulletin.com