BRIGHTON, N.Y. (WROC) – The rise in car thefts is declining in some towns in our area, including Brighton.

The Brighton Police Department says they are hopeful it’s in connection to the increased use of expedited appearance tickets, a technique used more frequently by local law enforcement agencies.

Back in June, News 8 reported Brighton Police, and other agencies, began issuing the expedited tickets more often. Police say it’s a way to further hold suspects and repeat offenders accountable. Instead of returning to court a few weeks later, the suspects would be required to show the next day.

In the last few months, Sgt. Keith Woodard with Brighton PD says the department has issued a few dozen of these tickets. It comes as Brighton has seen an ‘exponential’ rise this year in stolen vehicle cases in general, he says.

Sgt. Woodard says Brighton is starting to see the trend of car thefts come down, which the department hopes is a result of utilizing this tactic more often.

“I would think that there’s less opportunity, especially if these kids are being held accountable on the probation and family court end, and hopefully at home. That’s the whole goal,” said Sgt. Woodard, “I think with just the basic sheer volume of crime and arrests, the public wanted something done. Something needed to change and that was one of the tools that wasn’t so widely used before.”

While police say accountability is a priority with the expedited tickets, they believe the behavior of offenders has become accepted.

“I think we’ve normalized this behavior so much over the last few years that it’s really difficult to tell. Hopefully, it has something to do with the process,” said Sgt. Woodard.

According to Brighton Police, some suspects were released from the Monroe County Juvenile Detention Center over capacity issues in June.

At that time, a spokesperson for the county said capacity was not an issue and suspects would be relocated to other facilities throughout New York State, though not in the event of reaching capacity.

News 8 reached back out to the county on this topic. A spokesperson reiterated the previous statement, adding the facility is not currently at capacity.