Philadelphia car thefts declined this year, but police say there's room for improvement
Car thefts in Philadelphia are down significantly.
At this time last year, the Philadelphia Police Department was trying to get a handle on what commanders believed to be a losing battle. Today they've seen the trend reverse but admit there's still room for improvement.
Sunny, who doesn't want to reveal his identity out of fear of retaliation, is one of the 14,000 people whose car was stolen this year in Philadelphia.
"I'm about to go to play basketball and I check my phone and I have an L tag ... in my car, and I realize that it's not in the area," Sunny said. "It's in Camden."
CBS News Philadelphia agreed to protect Sunny's identity because his case led to arrests and he said fears for his safety.
This time last year the Philadelphia Police Department was grappling with a huge number of stolen cars — more than 22,000.
Major Crimes Lieutenant Brian Geer, a Northeast Philadelphia native, is the department's lead investigator on stolen cars, carjackings and other crimes.
"It's like somebody dropped a big jar of marbles and they just went everywhere. And you're trying to collect them and find everything," Geer said.
Geer says the number of stolen cars so far in 2024 is around 14,000. That's a 36% reduction from this time last year. Carjackings are also down, from 822 this time last year to 531 so far in 2024, Geer said.
"I think the bad guys know that we're out there," Geer said. "We're coming to get them."
Geer also points to the waning social media trend that he says showed people how to steal certain cars.
"We got a lot of help from Kia and Hyundai with their security upgrade. That really cut our numbers," Geer said.
But police are now seeing an uptick where thieves use technology to reprogram key fobs in push-button-start cars, allowing them to steal a car with little effort.
They recommend car owners invest in tools to deter thieves.
"A club is a very visual, easily identifiable deterrent," Geer said. "There's not a lot of people going around with tools to try and defeat the club."
Sunny, whose car was totaled by the thieves who stole it, still has to find another car, and he expects it will be a financial burden.
"I thought the area that I lived in was a good location, I would not expect my car to be stolen," Sunny said.
Police also say to evaluate the area when parking your car, making sure the place is well-lit and not isolated.
Of all the stolen car cases, police say they've made arrests in a relatively small number of cases.
