In exploring the crime of auto theft, this research combines relevant selections of theoretical and empirical research currently used in the field to develop an opportunity structure and victimization model for auto theft. Through combining an opportunity structure with an intensive site-level approach, this research focuses on the community-level environmental cues that facilitate crime, as well as the site-level features that present offenders with attractive opportunities for auto theft. This two-tiered approach identifies areas that auto thieves see as conducive for crime and the specific situational aspects they encounter when selecting individual targets. The research contributes to understanding crime patterns in three capacities: 1) high crime areas and opportunity structures; 2) micro/site-level crime patterns; and 3) combining opportunity and environmental factors to identify repeat victimization. It has been shown that crime is not randomly distributed across space or time, but rather there are patterns of clustering referred to as hot spots; small places with a high concentration of crime over a certain period of time. Tables, figures, references, and index