NJ luxury car thefts are rising

Police offer simple tips to help keep you safe

By: William Westhover
and Stephen Stirling
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... From their waterfront just south of the Walt Whitman Bridge, neighbors in tiny Brooklawn look across the Delaware River toward Philadelphia's Sports Complex, where the Eagles, Phillies and Sixers do battle.
..... More recently, their own borough has become an arena for a different kind of sport: auto theft.
..... "We're right on the Route 130 corridor, which is a major thoroughfare, and we're about two minutes from Camden," where many of Brooklawn's stolen cars have been found, said Police Chief Shamus Ellis. The Camden County town's eight-officer department has investigated 17 vehicle heists so far this year. [2022]
..... Ninety miles to the north, another small New Jersey borough is coping with he same problem. Chatham borough in the Morris County suburbs has seen a wave of luxury thefts - BMWs have been a hot target, said Chief Brian Gibbons. The town's proximity to Routes 24 and 78 offers easy access to and from Newark, where many vehicles end up, destined for export out of the country or to be sued in other crimes.
..... Vehicle thefts are up 23% this year [2022] in New Jersey, continuing a record-setting pace that has reached "crisis" proportions, according to state officials. an analysis of state police data by the USA TODAY Network New Jersey found that the trend has touched virtually every corner of the state - with some of the highest auto-theft rates in some the state's most affluent communities, where high-end models are hot commodities.
..... More than 14,000 vehicles were reported stolen in New Jersey last year, [2021] and the state is on pace to shatter that mark, with 9,093 thefts reported through June 30 of this year, [2022] according to state police data. The upward trend follows three years of declines, from 2018 to 2020.
..... Officials say there's a simple solution to deter the crooks: Lock your vehicles and homes and keep keys or fobs secure - through many careless car owners still haven't gotten the message.
..... Urged on by prosecutors, legislators are now stepping into the front line of the battle.
..... State Senator Richard Codey, an Essex Count Democrat, introduced a bill in Trenton this week [08/17/2022] with Senator Anthony Bucco, a Morris Republican to stiffen penalties for the leaders of car-theft rings, who often recruit juveniles to boost the vehicles.
..... the legislation expands penalties for first-degree charges related to automobile thefts, doubling there sentencing range to 10 to 20 years. Penalties for juveniles would also include a 60-day period of community service.
..... "Let's not confuse anything: This is a crisis in New Jersey," said Bucco.
..... Ranked on aper capita basis, Brooklawn had the highest auto theft rate in the state through August 2: [2022] its 17 thefts translate to a 9.37 theft rate per 1,000 residents - although other towns have far higher overall numbers. Alpine and Englewood Cliffs in Bergen County and tony Jersey Shore communities such as Mantoloking and Avalon were also high on the list on a rate basis. Chatham was first in Morris County, with 195 thefts per 1,000 residents.
..... "It's a statewide problem," said Richard Pantina, chief of Morris County's largest municipal police force, in Parsippany, where 29 vehicles have been stolen this year. [2022]
..... Englewood Cliffs, near several major highways that ofter easy getaway routes, has investigated 24 thefts so far this year, [2022] said Police Chief William Henkelman. "There's only so many of us," he said. "It;s a million-to-one for us to be in the right pace at the right time. It's a needle in a haystack."
..... "We've been pretty proactive about getting the word out to the community," Henkelman added. "we have used message boards and social-media campaigns. I did a video essentially pleading with them to lock their cars and remove their fobs."
..... "We have had 37 cars stolen over the last two years to date, and every one of them had the key fobs inside," added Gibbons, the Chatham chief. "It's an extraordinary situation."
..... Chatham suffered "a very significant: wave of thefts in January, [2022] when the community of 9,200 accounted for a quarter of all stolen autos in Morris County. But the borough has seen a marked improvement since then, with the number down to 8.4%, said Gibbons, a dedicated number-cruncher who has used in-house analytics to help fight the surge. (His records show that the BMW X5 SUV is the most popular target for thieves.)
..... Gibbons attributes the improvement to several factors, including a public awareness campaign that sends real-time text and email warnings to residents that thieves may be in the area. Those determinations are based on data derived form license-plate readers, thermal imaging at night showing idling cars in odd places, and communications form neighboring towns.
..... The bough has also sent cautionary flyers to residents who leave their garage door open overnight.
..... During the surge in January, [2022] six vehicles were stolen in eight reported attempts. By April, [2022] that was down to two vehicles taken in eight attempts, following by nine attempts and one theft in June, [2022] Gibbons said.
..... Not all attempts get reported, he acknowledged. Still, "we believe those figures are directly related to the efforts, especially to notify people,: Gibbons said.
..... Pantina, the Parisppany chief, is hopeful a recent move by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office to allow freer pursuits of stolen vehicles will also help. "It's a bit of a preventive measure if the actor knows we can chase them," he said. "That might be a deterrent. If you know that nobody's going to chase you, they'll be more inclined."

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