The Property Crime Investigations Team is primarily responsible for investigating theft related crimes. These crimes include residential, commercial and auto burglaries; thefts; vandalism; grand larceny; stolen property; fraud / forgeries; identity theft; arson; unlawful use and/or possession of explosives; and environmental crimes.

Financial Institutions

The team works closely with banks and other financial institutions to identify offenders and obtain evidence. These crimes include altering and forging checks, credit card fraud, identity theft and other fraud schemes. Fraud includes a variety of forgeries such as passing a forged instrument, counterfeiting (on a variety of documents including credit cards), passing counterfeit currency, and unlawful use of financial transaction cards.

Increase in Property Crimes

Over the past several years these crimes have been on a steady rise with identity theft, auto theft, and auto burglary having the largest increase. The Property Crime Investigations Team has detectives designated to investigate burglary, theft, arson, credit card fraud, check forgery, identity theft, counterfeiting and embezzlement crimes. One detective is primarily responsible for the investigation of auto theft related crime and is assigned to the Sonoma County Auto Theft Task Force (SONCATT). One detective is assigned Graffiti related crimes and a third is assigned to environmental crimes. The team is also staffed with a Graffiti Abatement Technician who is responsible for tracking and analyzing graffiti related crimes throughout the city.

Follow-Up Investigations

Additionally, follow-up investigations are conducted on stolen property located at pawn shops. Recent trends indicate growth over the past several years in the area of forgery and credit card cases involving multiple victims, and computer crimes stemming from identity theft. Detectives remind everyone to protect sensitive financial and identifying information by storing it in a safe deposit box, shredding discarded information, and retrieving mail from their box as soon as possible. The Team has developed A Quick Reference Guide (PDF) for identity theft victims.

Contact Us

If you have any information regarding stolen vehicles, you may contact the Sonoma County Auto Theft Task Force at 707-565-1371. If you have other questions related to property crimes, please contact us at 707-543-3575.