QPolice Cut Car Theft Squad from 18 to 3 Officers.

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QUEENSLAND police have cut their dedicated car theft squad from 18 officers to three as the state's stolen car rate rises at an alarming rate.

At the same time, the Newman Government's axing of a $205,000 grant for the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council has industry sources bracing for worse than the 26 per cent leap in cars stolen in Queensland last year.

A spokesman for Police Minister Jack Dempsey said the Government was "not at this stage" reconsidering a decision to "downsize" the car theft unit with police priorities shifting following the shooting murder of Gold Coast police officer Damian Leeding in May last year.

Industry sources questioned the commitment of some senior police to vehicle theft in favour of "sexier" areas of organised crime, saying the squad had lost expertise at a crucial time.

But Detective-Inspector Darryl Charleson, who oversees the squad, said staffing was "fluid" enough to respond when necessary.

Insurance Council of Australia chief Rob Whelan wrote to Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie warning that Queensland, the only state to baulk at the "modest" funding commitment, risked the future of a body that had saved the nation hundreds of millions of dollars.

The cost of car theft in Queensland - the only mainland state where theft rose since 2007 - leaped $32 million to $157 million in the year to March, raising fears of higher insurance premiums.

The number of passenger and light commercial vehicles stolen leaped 22 per cent in the first three months of the year.

An Insurance Council spokesman said the spike, which followed a decade of declining thefts across Australia, showed "professional thieves are becoming more resourceful, increasingly stealing cars to cut (them) up for spare parts and are moving cars across state borders to hide their activities".

"The NMVTRC helps combat this type of crime and provides a co-ordinated response to vehicle theft in Australia and it currently retains support of all other states and territories in Australia," the spokesman said.

The number of vehicles stolen in Australia has fallen by more than 80,000, or 58 per cent, since the NMVTRC began in 2001.

State governments have shared the cost of funding it on a 50/50 basis with insurers, together contributing $2.25 million last year.

NMVTRC chairman David Morgan said the council was "still hopeful of finding a pathway to continue our important work".
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