Centralia police are offering to pull your car over to make sure it isn’t stolen

Police in Centralia are launching a free program this week aimed at stopping vehicle thefts — by getting permission to stop registered vehicles in the early morning hours.

Starting Tuesday, people in Centralia can sign up for the Centralia Combating Auto Theft, or CCAT, program. They will register their vehicles with police, put a CCAT sticker in the back window and agree to allow officers to stop their vehicle between 1 and 5 a.m. to make sure the vehicle is not stolen.

Centralia police take an average of 105 auto theft reports each year. Police say often people don’t realize their car was stolen until hours later, meaning officers may pass a stolen vehicle while on patrol and and not know it was stolen until a report is filed.

To sign up for CCAT, call Community Service Officer Kyle Stockdale at 360-330-7680.

This story was originally published February 19, 2018 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Centralia police are offering to pull your car over to make sure it isn’t stolen."