A new report looks into the car theft rate in Chicago, which has tripled since 2019.
The report was conducted by Wirepoints and examines the growing issue of car theft in the Windy City. The analysis shows that the amount of carjacking incidents has increased year by year.
Ted Dabrowski, president of Wirepoints, told The Center Square that these crimes, which used to be less frequent, happen multiple times a day.
“The big issue is that we continue to hear about the issue of carjacking in Chicago,” Dabrowski said. “It is getting worse and worse, and there is more and more of them. There are over five a day now.”
The report shows that car theft has nearly tripled over the last three years. At its current run rate, Chicago will hit 1,960 carjacking incidents in 2022. In 2019, Chicago had a baseline of 603 carjacking reports.
With the high number of crimes committed, the city fails to prosecute the criminals involved, Dabrowski said.
“It only has a 6% arrest rate for carjackings,” Dabrowski said. “People are doing this and getting away with it without any consequences. That is why they continue to do it and do it more.”
The report shows that three-quarters of the thefts involve the offender using a weapon. In addition, the report shows that 76% of Chicago carjacking reports this year have been classified as “aggravated,” which would be another record for the city.
The threat of car theft has spread across the city as now many major populated and wealthier areas are also being hit. A decade ago, River North, Lincoln Park, and Lakeview had eight carjacking incidents in total, whereas in 2021, they had 103.
This article originally appeared on The Center Square.
