Greenwich, other police, notice uptick in car thefts
GREENWICH – The town of Greenwich is joining numerous communities across the region with an uptick in stolen cars.
The rising trend in car thefts is seen by experts as a mix of complacency, false confidence in modern car security systems and a fresh breed of teenaged perpetrators.
Taken together, the fresh generation of car thieves – youngsters often seventeen or junior – are taking advantage of the fresh ignition systems installed in motor vehicles to take vehicles for joy rails and mayhem, according to law enforcement authorities.
In Greenwich, car thefts are up by seventy six percent this year, as compared with the number stolen from January to mid-July in 2016, according to department statistics.
«Unluckily, people are making it effortless,» by leaving their vehicles unlocked and ready to embark, said Greenwich police Lt. David Nemecek.
«Often times, with the fresh ‘push-to-start` key fobs, people leave them in the vehicle,» said Fairfield Police spokesman Lt. Robert Kalamaris. «The end result is that the doors don`t get locked, and the car completes up getting stolen once the perpetrator presses the brake pedal and sees the green light illuminate on the ‘begin` button.»
Many of the perpetrators of the latest wave of auto thefts are juveniles. A group of youthful people arrested in a series of weekend car thefts in Greenwich were inbetween the ages of fourteen and 17.
«It`s juveniles, not adults, doing a lot of this,» said Nemecek.
Police in Greenwich say the car thefts are being perpetrated by informal street gangs in loosely organized style.
The Greenwich department has added staff and other resources to the auto-theft unit, and there have been advances in regional cooperation among other communities in the area.
Most stolen cars are recovered, according to state data. But they`re often taken for a joyride or a crime spree very first.
The theft of a car from a suburban driveway is often just the commence of a dangerous rail for the driving public, police officers and bystanders. The car thieves are also endangering themselves, police said.
A car driven by a Waterbury man accused of hitting a police cruiser and a police officer before he was shot by a cop in Waterbury in March was stolen from Greenwich. The crimson Lexus SUV was just one of three cars stolen in Greenwich that weekend that ended up in Waterbury.
In May of this year, police shot Jayson Negron, 15, and Julian Fyffe, 21, who were in a stolen car in Bridgeport. Negron died from his wounds. It`s unclear who stole the car–the case is under investigation.
In the past six months, police have linked stolen cars to robberies and at least one drive-by shooting. Stolen cars provide criminals with cover because they can`t be traced back to them, police said.
While there has been a regional uptick over the past year or so, the overall rate of auto theft countrywide has dropped since a peak in the early 1990s, data shows.
Motor-vehicle theft rates have fallen nationally from six hundred fifty nine per 100,000 inhabitants in one thousand nine hundred ninety one to around two hundred twenty over the past five years, according to FBI statistics. The rate was 148.9 per 100,000 inhabitants in Connecticut in 2015, the last year of reporting statistics.
Greenwich, other police, notice uptick in car thefts
Greenwich, other police, notice uptick in car thefts
GREENWICH – The town of Greenwich is joining numerous communities across the region with an uptick in stolen cars.
The rising trend in car thefts is seen by experts as a mix of complacency, false confidence in modern car security systems and a fresh breed of teenaged perpetrators.
Taken together, the fresh generation of car thieves – youngsters often seventeen or junior – are taking advantage of the fresh ignition systems installed in motor vehicles to take vehicles for joy rails and mayhem, according to law enforcement authorities.
In Greenwich, car thefts are up by seventy six percent this year, as compared with the number stolen from January to mid-July in 2016, according to department statistics.
«Unluckily, people are making it effortless,» by leaving their vehicles unlocked and ready to commence, said Greenwich police Lt. David Nemecek.
«Often times, with the fresh ‘push-to-start` key fobs, people leave them in the vehicle,» said Fairfield Police spokesman Lt. Robert Kalamaris. «The end result is that the doors don`t get locked, and the car completes up getting stolen once the perpetrator presses the brake pedal and sees the green light illuminate on the ‘commence` button.»
Many of the perpetrators of the latest wave of auto thefts are juveniles. A group of youthful people arrested in a series of weekend car thefts in Greenwich were inbetween the ages of fourteen and 17.
«It`s juveniles, not adults, doing a lot of this,» said Nemecek.
Police in Greenwich say the car thefts are being perpetrated by informal street gangs in loosely organized style.
The Greenwich department has added staff and other resources to the auto-theft unit, and there have been advances in regional cooperation among other communities in the area.
Most stolen cars are recovered, according to state data. But they`re often taken for a joyride or a crime spree very first.
The theft of a car from a suburban driveway is often just the embark of a dangerous rail for the driving public, police officers and bystanders. The car thieves are also endangering themselves, police said.
A car driven by a Waterbury man accused of hitting a police cruiser and a police officer before he was shot by a cop in Waterbury in March was stolen from Greenwich. The crimson Lexus SUV was just one of three cars stolen in Greenwich that weekend that ended up in Waterbury.
In May of this year, police shot Jayson Negron, 15, and Julian Fyffe, 21, who were in a stolen car in Bridgeport. Negron died from his wounds. It`s unclear who stole the car–the case is under investigation.
In the past six months, police have linked stolen cars to robberies and at least one drive-by shooting. Stolen cars provide criminals with cover because they can`t be traced back to them, police said.
While there has been a regional uptick over the past year or so, the overall rate of auto theft countrywide has dropped since a peak in the early 1990s, data shows.
Motor-vehicle theft rates have fallen nationally from six hundred fifty nine per 100,000 inhabitants in one thousand nine hundred ninety one to around two hundred twenty over the past five years, according to FBI statistics. The rate was 148.9 per 100,000 inhabitants in Connecticut in 2015, the last year of reporting statistics.