"Etching makes stealing a car almost more trouble than it's worth," said Ashley Thompson, public safety police officer at Pittsburgh's Zone 4 police station.

Between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday at the Mellon Arena parking lot, in Uptown, police will etch VINs into windows on as many as 400 cars at no charge. The event is jointly sponsored by the Pittsburgh police, Allegheny County police and state police.

"That's about all the cars they have time for in that amount of time," said Gabriel Mazefsky, chief of staff for Pittsburgh City Council President Doug Shields.

A VIN etched into car windows means selling a stolen car requires about $3,000 in additional expenses to replace the glass, Thompson said. "That's enough money to deter most car thefts."

In 1999, nearly 5,000 cars were reported stolen in Allegheny County, according to the Pennsylvania Auto Theft Prevention Authority, which coordinates auto theft prevention among law enforcement agencies.

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