Newark carjackings increase by 60 percent in past year
Published: Monday, January 10, 2011, 8:15 AM Updated: Monday, January 10, 2011, 12:07 PM
The scene of a carjacking at South 7th Street and Central Avenue Newark in this July 2010 file photo. Newark crime statistics show that carjackings in the city have increased by 60 percent in the past year.NEWARK — Newark has been inundated with 80 carjackings in the past two months, capping a year-long spike as the city’s annual carjacking total jumped 60 percent, according to police statistics. The increase has sparked panic and anger among residents, clergy and city leaders.
There were 271 carjackings in the state’s largest city from Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 26, according to police and prosecutor’s office statistics, higher than the countywide mark of 233 in 2009.
Acting Prosecutor Robert Laurino said last month that the city’s carjacking rate was comparable to the 1990s, when Newark was dubbed the carjacking capital of the nation.
"We’ve got a couple of hotspots. One in the north, one in the west, one in the south," said Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy. "There has been a general rise in carjackings, and we just hit an unbelievable spike in the month of December."
Today, local and federal authorities will hold a press conference to discuss the jump and the methods being used to combat the increase, including the formation of a multi-agency task force and threatening suspects with stiffer charges.
Authorities did not identify a specific reason for the surge, but McCarthy said criminals often commit carjackings because improved security systems make it very difficult to steal high-end vehicles without a key. He also said thieves have been carjacking vehicles and using them to commit robberies, shootings and homicides.
McCarthy said one group of teenagers was responsible for at least 20 of last year’s carjackings.
"They will carjack a car and then ditch them five blocks away. We did find a group of juveniles that have been committing those carjackings. Young kids generally 15 or 16 years old. I’m curious what the mindset is," he said. "They will do a carjacking and then take the driver’s cell phone and wallet. I think the robbery is the motivation and the carjack is the secondary part of it."
The thefts extended throughout the county last year. Carjackings increased by 33 percent throughout Essex from Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 26, according to statistics, and they nearly tripled in Orange, jumping from four in 2009 to 11 last year, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Hijackers have also been joyriding between counties, said McCarthy, carjacking a vehicle in one city and using it to travel to their next crime.
Newark had 46 carjackings in December alone, according to city police, accounting for nearly one fifth of the city’s total. The final surge came on the heels of Mayor Cory Booker’s decision to layoff 167 police officers. McCarthy said there is no connection between crime rates and layoffs.
McCarthy said police teamed up with the Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in mid December to create a task force designed to stymie the surge. There were only four carjackings in the week following the task force’s creation, according to city police, and nearly a dozen suspected carjackers have since been arrested by the task force, according to Newark police.
The winter surge in carjackings drove South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka and Bishop Jethro James to host separate town hall meetings last month, allowing residents to vent their frustrations to local and state law enforcement leaders.
"We have citizens talking about arming themselves," said James, pastor of Paradise Baptist Church on 15th Avenue.
Jennifer Bogar, 35, remembers the terror on her 10-year-old son’s face when they were carjacked on Dec. 18. The city woman says a black BMW was trailing her for several blocks, and spun around to pin her inside a driveway after she pulled off the road.
Two men wearing ski masks trained guns on Bogar and her son, she said, and ordered her out of the car.
"The city definitely needs help," she said. "Whatever they can get."
During Baraka’s event, Laurino told residents the bulk of the carjackings happen between 4 p.m. and midnight and are mostly done by teenagers. He said new methods of prosecution to curb the outbreak.
"These juveniles will be dealt with as adults," he said.
Staff Writer David Giambusso contributed to this report.
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