Posted on 08/23/2023 8:02:40 AM PDT by george76
Be careful where you park your car, it might not be there when you come back. Chicago — like much of the nation — has seen a huge rise in car thefts since 2020, with no let-up in sight.
Adding to the problem, the Chicago Police Department has linked several recent robbery sprees to stolen vehicles. That comes as carmakers Kia and Hyundai face scrutiny for failing to provide adequate security systems for their cars.
Last Friday, Northwest Side resident Matt Nalett spotted a stolen Hyundai Tuscon in an alley just off of the intersection of North and Cicero avenues.
“So you can see the window is broken out with the glass, there’s probably some inside the vehicle on the floor,” Nallet observed.
He runs the Chicago Stolen Car Directory, a volunteer effort to locate stolen vehicles and alert owners on his Facebook page.
Nalett knew the car was stolen because the back window was gone, there were shards of glass on the seat and the ignition had been ripped apart with several wires sticking out. He says the thief needed nothing more than a screw driver and a USB cord to start the car.
“You see in the middle of the cylinder where that notch is?” Nalett said. “That’s where they used the USB.”
Nalett says he spends several hours a week scouring alleyways, empty lots and side streets on the West and Northwest sides of the city for stolen vehicles.
When he finds a vehicle that looks suspicious, he’ll run the plates in the Chicago Police Department’s stolen car database.
He’s fairly busy these days.
Chicago Police Department crime statistics show a sharp rise in car thefts — from just under 9,000 in 2019 to more than 21,000 last year. That’s a 139% spike in just three years. And 2023’s numbers are on track to be even higher.
Ernesto Lopez is a research specialist for the Council on Criminal Justice, a national organization that studies crime trends.
“It looks like these are mostly Kia and Hyundai related … select makes and models are vulnerable to thefts,” Lopez said.
He says Chicago’s spike mirrors a nationwide trend, which might have been sparked by a viral TikTok video.
“That Tiktok challenge of how to steal the Kias and Hyundais, that was the biggest thing,” Nalett said. “And kids are like, we got nothing to do, let’s steal cars. When they were out that two years of COVID, they were bored and had nothing to do and stealing cars left and right.”
But other makes and models are vulnerable too, and crime statistics show every corner of the city is seeing thefts.
Last December, Beena David, a professional singer, left her car in the Grant Park South Parking Garage before a music rehearsal at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. When she came back, the car was gone.
“Completely gone, and I knew exactly where I parked it,” David said. “My reaction was disbelief. I literally had my mouth agape. It’s gone!”
David documented her travails on TikTok. A month later, after claiming full reimbursement from her insurance, David got word her car was at an auto impound lot in Hammond, Indiana. She went to see what shape it was in.
As seen on her TikTok account, Beena opens the car door and finds some unwelcome surprises on the seats.
“We open the vehicle and there are a bunch of stolen items, three stolen car batteries, half a smoked blunt, the guy’s cellphone,” she explained. “It looked like a rifle but I was told it was a pellet gun, and the saddest thing was children’s DVDs and juice boxes.”
“These cars are used in the commission of another crime, joyriding or even being sold,” Lopez said.
And according to CPD statistics, most thieves get away with the initial crime. Last year, the clearance rate for solving motor vehicle thefts was a paltry 4%.
Sources close to CPD say the department de-emphasizes solving these types of crimes to devote more resources to more serious crimes.
Nalett says motorists can do a few things to protect their cars: buy an alarm, convert from a key to push button starter, or just get an old-fashioned club.
The nonprofit National Insurance Crime Bureau offers this advice for those that have had their cars stolen: First, report the theft to law enforcement on the day you discover the car is gone. Then, use the police report to submit a claim to your insurer to get reimbursement. Finally, be prepared to have the make and model, license plate number and VIN number handy.
Beena David has since replaced her vehicle — and parked in the same garage — and says her luck hasn’t improved much. She says she forgot to lock her car before rushing out to a recent rehearsal.
“When I came back, the glove box was open and it had been ransacked through, and nothing had been missing except my homemade lunch: chicken curry and cherries.”
Nalett says he’ll stay on the prowl until law enforcement puts more emphasis on solving car thefts.
“I don’t like seeing stolen cars. People need them,” he said.
Dang white privilege peeps out there stealing all the vehicles no doubt
And the best the left can do is to tell us not to confront the thieves because “it’s only stuff.”
Newsflash: It’s my stuff that I paid my money to buy. Insurance will give me some money, but not replacement value.
My son paid $15,000 for a used F-150. It was destroyed two months later by a drunk driver while it was parked.
He only got $12,000 from his insurance company.
It’s about time car thieves were treated like horse thieves in the old west.
Defunding the police means fewer detectives, which means that certain criminal investigations must be deprioritized. I guess car theft is among them.
Do they steal many EVs ?
The nonprofit National Insurance Crime Bureau offers this advice for those that have had their cars stolen: First, report the theft to law enforcement on the day you discover the car is gone. Then, use the police report to submit a claim to your insurer to get reimbursement. Finally, be prepared to have the make and model, license plate number and VIN number handy.
We partner with insurance companies, consumers, and law enforcement to combat and prevent insurance crime.
Kia-Boyz.
So the most hoodrat of car, is the easiest to steal. Great combo.
““It looks like these are mostly Kia and Hyundai related … select makes and models are vulnerable to thefts,” Lopez said.”
My Hyundai was stolen from my buildings garage. My other Hyundai has been broken into twice. After a week and a half, my car was found, but now I have to repair it.
Blame the thefts on the car makers. Sounds bout right.
I recall watching a documentary on auto theft and the criminals can even strip down cars and make almost completely new ones from the parts.
But “crime” is still down. Most stolen vehicles are probably considered “gone joy-riding”. Cuts down on the paperwork.
and those 4% only get solved because the cops find the car burned out, crashed and abandoned, or found as evidence used in another crime like a murder
The Democrat Party Organized Crime Syndicate attacks the middle class.
“Chicago Police Department crime statistics show a sharp rise in car thefts — from just under 9,000 in 2019 to more than 21,000 last year. That’s a 139% spike in just three years.”
I would have thought it was much higher than that.
The mare of Chicago has done better than I suspected. The horse’s laugh is on me.
I took an airtag, removed the speaker and hid it in my camper van. If it ever got stolen, the thief might detect that there is a tracker somewhere in the van, but it would be nearly impossible for him to find it with the speaker removed. He would probably end up ditching the van before getting tracked back to his chop shop.
For my whole life, the LE response to car thefts has been pathetic. As a teenager in the 80s, I learned when my car was stolen in broad daylight, while I was working at a summer job, that they don’t really do anything to try to deter or arrest car thieves. The police seemed like they couldn’t care less about it.
Part of our problem with lawlessness is that criminals don’t have any fear that committing crimes will cause them significant problems. It only seems to be getting worse.
Success in action. /s What does it take for people to recognize that what is currently being done doesn’t work and more of the same will yield even worse results?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.