Where is your vehicle most likely to be stolen in Wichita? Here is what the data shows
You’re more likely to have your vehicle stolen in parts of west Wichita than in other areas of the city, according to an analysis of thefts across the Wichita Police Department’s patrol beats.
The data is from January 2020 to February 2024.
During that time, police beats 17, 299 and 16 had the most thefts — more than twice as many as in police beats 47 and 199, where the fewest auto thefts happened. The beats with the fewest thefts generally include the most northern and the most western parts of the city.
You can find all the police beats in a map at wichita.gov/703/Field-Services-Division.
None of the beats are perfect squares, but rough descriptions of the areas they include are:
Beat 16 — Portions of west Wichita, generally from 13th Street to Maple and from Tyler Road to along the Big Ditch just west of I-235
Beat 17 — Portions of west and southwest Wichita, generally from Maple to Southwest Boulevard and from West Street to Ridge Road, also including a section east of Southwest Boulevard to Meridian
Beat 299 — Portions of southwest Wichita, generally south of Southwest Boulevard to MacArthur and Meridian to Dugan Road, also including some areas between MacArthur and 47th Street South and from Meridian to Seneca and 31st Street South to MacArthur
Beat 47 — Portions of north Wichita, generally from 21st Street to 53rd Street North and from Hydraulic to Woodlawn
Beat 199 — Portions of west Wichita, generally from Maple to 17th Street and 135th Street West to Tyler Road
From January 2020 to February 2024, Beat 17 had the most vehicle thefts of any Wichita police beat, with 434 vehicles stolen. That’s just over 4% of all vehicles stolen across the city (10,375).
The next most theft-prone beat was 299, with 374 thefts, or 3.6% of all vehicles stolen. Beat 16 was the third most theft-prone beat, with 368 thefts, or 3.55% of total thefts.
Beats 47 and 199 had the least numbers of thefts over the four-year period, 160 and 161 respectively. Each figure accounts for about 1.5% of total vehicle thefts reported from January 2020 to February 2024.
The beats give a more granular look at auto thefts than ZIP codes because they represent smaller areas of the city. ZIP codes with the most thefts had higher populations than those with the least.
Here is what the ZIP codes showed:
67211 was the most prone-theft ZIP code for each individual year and all years combined. That ZIP code generally goes from around Douglas to Pawnee and Hillside to Main.
That ZIP code had 1,096 reported auto thefts between 2020 through February or about 10.5% of all thefts during that time. The next closest ZIP code was 67213, which neighbors and is just to the west of 67211, with 1,006 auto thefts. 67213 is from Douglas to Pawnee and Main to West Street.
After that, it drops to 871 in 67203, which is just to the north of 67213.
67203 includes Douglas to 21st Street and Main to West Street.
Contributing: Amy Renee Leiker with The Eagle
Is your vehicle a target for thieves? See the 15 makes, models stolen the most in Wichita
What are the most expensive vehicles stolen in Wichita? Here are some of them
Why are so many Kias and Hyundais being stolen in Wichita? It’s that online challenge
