BALTIMORE — A 16-year-old gunned down last week underscores how a 227% jump in auto thefts this year in Baltimore carries far more costs than a stolen vehicle.
“You have a young man who is deceased who was arrested as part of an attempted carjacking of a police officer where the police officer was shot and then he was arrested and arrested again and arrested again, and then unfortunately, not too far from here, his life was ended in the committance of another,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
All toll, the city has had 9,000 auto thefts and just over two-thirds of those are Hyundais and KIAs.
City police have made nearly 700 arrests for auto thefts this year and about 250 of those were juveniles.
“Just this last week, we arrested 21 juveniles, served a warrant or detained 17 separate [people] for carjacking and robbery arrests,” said Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley.
In a bid to prevent car thefts, the city has already distributed 3,000 steering wheel locks this year and plans to hand out 2,000 more.
It’s also adding more license plate readers throughout the city to track down stolen vehicles after the fact, but with a 60% recovery rate and 3,600 vehicles still missing, it will need owners to play their part as well.
“The main thing is don’t sit in your cars. Be as diligent as you can with your surroundings. Report anything that doesn’t seem right,” said Worley, “Just let us know. Let us come and investigate it."
