Car Theft Soars, Cops Blame TikTok Challenge (image-www.pixabay.com)
Car theft soars up by 19% in New York this year. A viral TikTok trend challenge is now encouraging kids to hijack Kia and Hyundai vehicles for joyride, police said on Wednesday.
“We have seen double-digit increases — it’s simply not acceptable,” Police Commissioner Edward Caban said during a news conference. New York Police Department has issued a statistic showing there were 24% more grand larceny auto reports this August compared to the same month in 2022.
Caban and Mayor Eric Adams have decided to equip every area in the city with police patrol cars to trace stolen cars. Car theft has risen above most of other crimes.
Police blamed the videos in TikTok giving step by step instructions on how to steal a car without keys.
About half of those arrested in car thefts in the past year are under 18, Mayor Eric said.
Thieves have made off with 10,632 cars so far this year — way more than the 8,953 stolen in 2022 up to this point, according to NYPD statistics.
Law enforcement officers are given special training to address the training issue. The police have also decided to deploy additional investigators to identify trends in car theft and have also decided to partner with car dealers and the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association to educate buyers about car theft, officials said.
As per the statistics, Rapes dropped by more than 23%, burglaries also sank from 1,395 to 1,185 last month. But auto theft has risen from 1,204 to 1,497 during the same period.
