The Portland area leads the state in car thefts, of course, but that's only because it has so many people (and vehicles). Relative to its size, the Grants Pass area actually emerges as the state's car-theft capital.

The Josephine County city and surrounding area had 362 car thefts last year, which amounts to 427 per 100,000 residents. (The area had an estimated population of just 84,745.) That rate is the 27th highest in the United States, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

The reason, police say, is that Josephine County cut law-enforcement funding in recent years after timber revenue, and the federal payments that temporarily replaced timber revenue, dried up. The county jail was been partially shut down to save money in 2012, and police stopped making arrests for property crimes around the same time.

"You could literally steal a car, drive it up to a police officer and say, 'I just stole this car,'" said Grants Pass Police Lt. Todd Moran. "We'd give you a citation and you could walk away."

In 2013, the city of Grants Pass started leasing beds in the county jail so its own police force could make arrests for property crimes, including car theft, in an attempt to tamp down such crimes. The beds are paid for with a tax added to utility bills.

Even so, that only applies when the theft occurs within the city limits. The shortage of sheriff's deputies in Josephine County makes the crime difficult to enforce, particularly when the vehicles are taken outside the city.

"You could steal cars all day long and park them in your front yard, and as long as you're discreet in who you tell, there's a good chance that you would go unnoticed for quite some time," Moran said.

Prosecutors in Josephine County are also short-staffed, so some cases aren't pursued, Moran said.

The Portland area comes in second for the state, with the 54th highest metro car-theft rate nationwide.

The Modesto, California, area led the nation in 2015 with 756.33 thefts per 100,000 residents.

Oregon's major metros, ranked:

Metro area Car thefts Rate per 100,000 residents Grants Pass, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 362 427.16 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area 7,797 326.34 Salem, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 1,213 295.79 Medford, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 492 231.46 Eugene, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 835 230.09 Albany, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 269 223.15 Bend-Redmond, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 134 76.45 Corvallis, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area 64 73.08

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus