Why carjacking is spiking across the country.

[Throck]

https://www.audacy.com/wwjnewsradio/news/national/it-could-happen-to-you-carjacking-spikes-hit-u-s-cities

Carjacking cases spiked across the country alongside COVID numbers as the U.S. staggered through the pandemic.

In Chicago alone, reports of the crime leapt from just over 600 in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, to more than 2,000 last year.

Carjacking is so out of control that during the Chicago Auto Show – the largest car show in the nation – Cook County Sheriff’s Office staff were on hand to alert the approximately 100,000 attendees about the crime spike. Outside of Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia and other cities have also seen carjackings rise in the pandemic.

The numbers spike and the fact that younger people than ever – with some armed and dangerous carjackers arrested as young as 10 years old – beg the question: why?

Audacy reached out to law enforcement agencies from all 50 states to get the real numbers behind the crime trend and some answers.

Cities with the highest spikes included: Chicago, which jumped from 603 in 2019 to 2,025 in 2021; Philadelphia, where reports of the crime increased from 224 in 2019 to 840 in 2021; Minneapolis, where 104 carjackings were reported in 2019 compared to 655 in 2021; Los Angeles, with 363 carjackings in 2019 compared to 556 in 2021; New York City with 132 carjackings in 2019 compared to 511 in 2021, Washington D.C. with 142 in 2019 and 426 in 2021; New Orleans with just 81 in 2019 compared to 210 in 2021 and Dallas, where just 12 carjackings were reported in 2020 compared to 453 last year.

My car is 14 years old and has 250,000 miles. I pity the fool that targets me.

[NBachers]

1. My 2005 Ford with well over 200,000 and a five speed manual should be safe.

[Throck]

4. Carjacking might injure themselves on a manual transmission.

[hlthe2b]

10. I drove stick shifts for years. I took my sister's jeep in for service and was amazed to find that

in the entire service department, the only one who could drive a car with manual transmission was out to lunch, so I had to drive it into the service bays. WOW... Over the years we've had car companies bring many a classic sports car, muscle car back, and even new versions that were true to their manual transmissions. I know a lot of younger buyers purchased them. But, I guess those who don't, never bother to learn anymore?

[iscooterliberally]

5. My Nissan has 170K miles and it's stick too.

This post reminds me of this story I read a while back. I'm sure this has happened more than once:

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/4-juveniles-who-tried-to-carjack-woman-at-gunpoint-were-foiled-by-cars-manual-transmission

[VGNonly]

13. Better Call Saul

"Does this steaming pile of crap scream payday to you?...the only way this car is worth $500 is if there's a $300 hooker in the backseat!"

[ripcord]

2. I am so tired of thieves

I'm really tired of gun crimes not being prosecuted to the fullest extent, if you use a gun in the course of a crime you should expect a lengthy prison term and I don't care how old you are.

[Celerity]

3. Woman's arm severed in deadly carjacking in New Orleans; teen boy and 3 girls arrested

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/linda-frickey-killed-carjacking-new-orleans-teen-boy-3-girls-arrested/

Four teenagers face murder charges in connection with a carjacking that left a 73-year-old woman dying on a New Orleans street, her arm severed after she was dragged a block by her own car while neighbors looked on helplessly, officials said Tuesday.

Police chief Shaun Ferguson said tips led to the arrests of the teens - a 17-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl and two 15-year-old girls - in the hours after the Monday afternoon carjacking. Two were turned in by their parents. All face second-degree murder charges, and Ferguson said he will recommend that they be charged as adults.

"That's a conversation that my team will have with the district attorney's office," Ferguson said at a Tuesday news conference. "I would say absolutely, I encourage, I will ask, that they be charged as adults. ... I mean, look at the nature of the crime." Ferguson confirmed that Linda Frickey died after she become entangled in a seatbelt as carjackers sped away with her vehicle.

"The door had closed on the seatbelt, but she was stuck in it," resident Todd Ecker told WVUE-TV on Monday. "I got out of my vehicle, screaming for them, 'Please stop, you're dragging a lady.' Other neighbors were also screaming at them." A tearful Leanne Mascar and her husband Mark Mascar tried to comfort the victim as she died at the scene. "I was telling this woman to hang in there," Mark Mascar told the TV station. "Every time I heard a siren, I was hoping and praying that was an ambulance."

[BlackSkimmer]

8. I read about this.

Something very wrong with these kids.

[maxsolomon]

18. probably lacked access to the internet for remote learning

if you look at it from that viewpoint, they really had no choice.

Kim Smith, director of programs at University of Chicago's Crime Lab, told CNN that juvenile carjackings happened more often in areas with poorer internet access and lower school attendance. Essentially, if you add up shuttered pandemic schools and no access to the internet for remote learning what you get are more kids carjacking.

[maxsolomon]

6. Not a lot of "why" in this article.

Cars require key fobs so you can't steal them without the fob?

[Sherman A1]

9. That's about it from what I understand

The advancing technology has this negative aspect.

[mercuryblues]

15. In my car, you need a fob to start it

You can drive it as long as long as you don't turn it off.

[hlthe2b]

7. I have an older Prius. They want my catalytic converter, which I take steps to protect. But I do

think manufacturers could work to solve the problem (with new cars) by implementing "panic" buttons just under the steering wheel--pushed before the perpetrator ever knew the car was equipped. That plus automated streaming audio/video from a dashcam or at least GPS signaling would stop this quickly.

As to the wider issue of juvenile crime, including violent crime, I don't have the answers. Clearly, there is a wider societal issue at play. I hope someone has some answers. sigh...

[2naSalit]

14. I want a button that...

Creates an electrical charge that shocks the piss out of anyone touching my car when the device is activated, automatically deactivates when the driver's door is opened.

[maxsolomon]

17. I wish I could share the picture of our Prius left up on a single pillar of landscape pavers

after the thieves discovered the anti-theft rebar we'd installed. they pillaged a yard down the street for the pavers.

had to call a tow truck to get the car down off of it.

[hlthe2b]

19. I guess I am going to have to break down and get my garage cleared out from its use as storage

so that I can start parking there again. I live in a reasonably safe area, but EVERYWHERE is experiencing car theft, catalytic converter theft, and vandalism.

Sad to hear about your Prius. Where were you?

[maxsolomon]

20. In a quiet neighborhood in NE Seattle.

A narrow street of million-dollar homes (which isn't as impressive as that sounds any more). I never heard a thing.

The welded rebar stops most CC thieves. It did stop them, but they left the car up on the blocks as a fuck you.

[hlthe2b]

21. Colorado has a program with AAA to engrave traceable VIN-type numbers on them through

certain repair shops across the state with wide access to the database for repair shops and potential purchasers to check. I've not yet done so, but am thinking about it as apparently there is some limited evidence this is deterring some theft or at least the buying of those CCs for precious metal rendering.

Not sure what else to do.

[maxsolomon]

22. Yep. Same here.

Probably worthwhile, but the CC thieves are starting to extract the precious metals themselves now.

I have to think it is a trend that will burn itself out.

[TheRealNorth]

11. Organized crime/gangs using these kids?

[sarisataka]

12. More speculation than explanation

Kids are not in school so maybe the only thing to do is steal cars. Because of key fobs maybe they can't just steal cars so have to jack them.

So Covid leads to juveniles carjacking

[maxsolomon]

16. that was my takeaway

kids can't do remote learning because Covid, so they steal cars at gunpoint. QED. makes sense!

no one in the article knew why either.

[Piasladic]

23. I used to feel the same way.

about pitying the fool..I am as poor as dirt, and I have the hovel to prove it. The only thing I am rich in is dust and cat hair. I figured they'd take one look and leave me some canned food in pity, but apparently, there are those desperate enough to try and sell old, hand-me-down records and a broken lawn mower...