CORAL GABLES, Fla. – South Florida has seen a number of recent carjacking incidents and an expert at the University of Miami says statistics show this type of crime is rising across the country.
Authorities said one of those recent carjackings happened in Lauderhill over the weekend. Police said it was all over a dispute about an Airbnb payment, leading to the arrest of 19-year-old Kavanson Mesidor, who appeared in court Monday.
Professor Alex Piquero, who teaches criminology at UM and is the former head of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, said newly-released FBI crime statistics for 2022 show carjackings are on the rise. He did caution, however, that the data isn’t complete.
“The problem with carjacking is that most police departments don’t report that crime type to the FBI, so you really are reliant on local police departments to provide that information,” Piquero said. “In those that do, there have been increases in carjackings.”
The statistics do show, however, that most violent crime is down compared to 2021.
“For the most part, homicides, aggravated assault, rape have gone down and that is the good news,” Piquero said.
One category not seeing a decrease, however, is auto thefts.
“A lot of people have pointed to the pandemic as being the reason, stressors, the financial strains, the fact that cars cost a lot of money,” Piquero said. “It is also true that there are a lot of cars out there and there are people who see those as targets and sometimes people leave in their keys in their car, so it is important to remember to lock our vehicles.”
Miami police said they’re seeing a rise in auto thefts from a pandemic low.
“So while we are seeing an upward trend nationwide in carjacking we are not seeing that in Miami,” Miami police Assistant Chief Armando Aguilar said. “As far as auto thefts are concerned though, there is a nationwide uptick and unfortunately we are experiencing an 8% jump in auto theft.”
Broward Sheriff’s Office officials also say they’re seeing an increase.
BSO auto theft statistics:
Aguilar noted that the uptick in auto theft comes within the context of a decades-long historic low in crime. The department reported a 40% reduction in murders and non-fatal shootings compared to last year.
Piquero said South Florida is much safer than it used to be.
“The United States and Miami in particular, we are much safer now than we were in the last 20 years,” he said. “In fact, since 1993 when crime was at its all-time highest in the U.S., we are still very much lower than that.”
The FBI’s website offers a city-by-city database of crime statistics. Fort Lauderdale police also offer statistics on their website.