Baltimore City councilman working on solution to tackle uptick in car thefts

BALTIMORE - With car thefts in Baltimore City at an all-time high, City Council members are taking action to try to stop them. 

The council plans to hold a hearing that brings several agencies together to try to tackle this problem. 

"It's going to take all of us working together," Baltimore City Council member Zeke Cohen said.

Baltimore City and Baltimore County are seeing a sharp rise in car thefts and carjackings in 2023.

In Baltimore City, there has been a 220 percent increase in thefts, with more than 7,700 car thefts this year alone and 380 carjackings.

The Baltimore Police Department shared how they are tackling car thefts.

A spokesperson said BPD handed out more than 3,000 wheel locks to city residents and has made more than 365 arrests for auto theft-related offenses. Minors make up 29 percent of those arrests.

Police said those charges include stolen auto, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, theft and unauthorized removal of a motor vehicle. 

Additionally, between Jan. 1 and July 29, Baltimore Police had recovered 4,245 vehicles that were taken in auto thefts, which accounts for 60 percent.

According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, motor vehicle theft is defined as the theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle.

Councilman Cohen said about 27 cars are stolen in the city each day.

"We need to come together as a city, as a state and figure this out because it is simply unacceptable to have constant car thefts," Cohen said.

The rise in car thefts is due in part to recent viral social media videos that show thieves how to hotwire certain Kia and Hyundai cars.

According to Baltimore County's Police Chief, Robert McCullough, a lot of the suspects are just children.

"Some of these youngsters are laughing at our officers, saying they know we can't do anything to them, and then they go to school and tell their friends," McCullough said.

Chief McCullough spoke about what his office is doing to combat the thefts during a county council meeting Monday but admitted shortfalls for the ongoing efforts.

"We continue to obtain free wheel locks from the Hyundai and Kia manufacturers, over 800 so far, and we are helping the companies promote software upgrades, but even those are not complete solutions," McCullough said.

Baltimore City Councilman Cohen is also trying to stop the thefts.

At Monday night's council meeting, he proposed a resolution to hold an investigative hearing with state and local agencies,  like the city sheriff's office, the Maryland Attorney General and the Maryland Department of Transportation, to try to brainstorm ways to reduce the number of car thefts.

One of Cohen's constituents, Darrell Benner, 57, lost his life during a carjacking this summer while trying to fight off carjackers.

"That, to me, shows that this is a really serious issue in our communities and through collaboration and working together with state local and federal partners, I believe we can make a serious dent in reducing this very serious crime," Cohen said.

The Baltimore City Council hearing has not been scheduled yet.