H.R. 568 — Auto Theft Prevention Act

This section establishes an auto theft prevention grant program in the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to provide funding to state and local law enforcement agencies to combat auto theft and stolen vehicle trafficking, with grants awarded by the COPS Director to each state's Attorney General proportional to the state's auto thefts in the prior year. Each state's Attorney General must subgrant at least 50% competitively to local agencies (prioritizing high-theft areas), at least 25% to state agencies, and the remainder competitively to either. Eligible uses include purchasing equipment such as law enforcement vehicles and license plate readers (and related costs), hiring and overtime for personnel combating auto theft, training, joint task forces, data collection and research, and up to 5% for administration. The section authorizes $30 million for each of FY2026 through FY2030.

This section expands authorized uses of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants to combat auto thefts and stolen automobile trafficking, including by purchasing equipment, hiring law enforcement officers and support staff, covering overtime and officer compensation costs, expanding access to training initiatives, funding joint task forces, and funding law enforcement data collection and research activities related to auto thefts.

This section establishes definitions for use in the Act, including (1) "local law enforcement agency" as any entity administered by a locality that exists primarily to prevent and detect crime and enforce criminal laws; (2) "locality" as any city, county, township, town, borough, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State; (3) "State" as any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; and (4) "State law enforcement agency" as any State entity that exists primarily to prevent and detect crime and enforce criminal laws.