Modus Operandi Page 4

  In the United States, a vehicle is stolen every twenty seconds. Auto theft is an $8 billion a year industry for criminals. Despite the new and ever-increasing security protections designed to foil theft attempts, auto theft is increasing yearly. State lawmakers and the federal government have increased the penalties for automobile thefts because of these statistics.

  Surprisingly enough, carelessness in securing vehicles accounts for more than 20 percent of auto theft: one or more of the doors left unlocked, a window left down or partially open, a security system left unactivated. One or more of these items will attract thieves so that when we come out of the store or leave work for the trip home, we find only an empty parking space.

  This chapter explores the methods vehicle thieves employ to secure their bounty. It will also explain the various enterprises that today's criminals use to commit their crimes.

  Who's the Victim?

  Today, vehicle theft is viewed as a victimless crime. The only ones who seem to get hurt are the insurance companies, who increase their fees to offset any losses. If you look at what happens when a vehicle is stolen, one could very easily see the positive side.

  Your car is stolen, but you have insurance to cover your loss; therefore, you basically get a new car out of it. The car dealer is happy because you have to buy a new car from him, the car manufacturer is happy because that's one less car in his inventory, the car thief is happy because he's going to make money from stealing the car. If the car is sent to a chop shop, they are happy because they can sell the parts from your stolen car to a body repair station for half the price of that of the manufacturer. Now, the body shop is happy because later he can rip off the insurance company by charging full price for the parts he obtained cheaply from the chop shop. The owner of the vehicle that is getting repaired is happy because the body shop owner is absorbing his deductible. So, everybody is happy, and we have a victimless crime.

  The only problem with this so-called victimless crime is that we are paying for it in injury, death and property damage caused by criminals fleeing capture. We also pay in the form of higher insurance premiums — some experts believe that a low estimation would be between ten and twenty percent; one source stated that twenty-one cents of every dollar in premiums goes to cover fraud and theft losses.

  Basic Auto Theft

  Juveniles, as young as ten years old, make up the majority of perpetrators who steal automobiles from the streets and parking lots of America. These juvenile offenders know that if apprehended, they will get little or no jail time for their crimes. The going price for a stolen vehicle is around five hundred dollars, so it is easy to see why stealing cars is so attractive to inner-city kids.

  Juvenile auto thieves scour streets and parking lots trying to find an unsecured vehicle. By unsecured we mean doors unlocked, windows partly or fully open, and keys in the ignition. If, by chance, the vehicle is unlocked and the keys left inside, which is a petty crime in many localities, our young criminals will get into the vehicle, start it, and drive away to a prearranged location.

  Sometimes a chop shop will place an order for a particular type of vehicle. The auto thief will conduct a surveillance of malls, health clubs or upscale lounges and restaurants. One method of this surveillance is to have a passenger van shuttle around a group of car thieves through the aforementioned areas. When a vehicle is located, the driver will stop the van letting out one of his passengers with instructions to steal the vehicle.

  The Jimmie

  The first option to gain entry into a locked car is to pick the lock. A device called a jimmie is used. A jimmie is made from spring steel and is inserted between the window and the rubber trim that protects the inside of the door. The jimmie has a soft rubber or plastic handle on one end and, on the other, a series of notches that can manipulate the lock mechanism. A jimmie can't be used on vehicles where the locking mechanism is electronic.

  There are other types of jimmies designed to enter between the rubber window molding and the glass itself. The working end of this jimmie is hooked to the door lock inside the vehicle and just pulled up. Anti-theft door locks are tapered to prevent using a jimmie, but thieves place a piece of tape onto the working end of the jimmie to cause enough friction to pop open the door lock.

  Other jimmies are designed to defeat locks located on the side of the door nearer to the dashboard. These jimmies are placed in the same way as above, but closer to the dashboard. For cheap thieves, a simple coat hanger can be bent and twisted into the same configurations as professional jimmies but are less conspicuous if the thief is stopped and questioned by the police.

  Ninja Rocks

  A new method of gaining entry into vehicles is the Ninja Rock —a. 3/8-inch cube-shaped white piece of porcelain. It was first used by Southeast Asian gangs. The Ninja Rock, when thrown at a moderate speed, will break and shatter any glass with little or no sound, and can easily be left at a scene with little chance of detection and, therefore, little chance of discovery.

  Digital Door Locks

  Vehicles with digital or punch-the-numbers door locks are the easiest to gain entry. Just think: You just paid eighteen hundred dollars for this luxury option, and all a car thief has to do to open your door is simply disconnect the battery. Because of an inherent safety feature designed to unlock your doors in case of an accident, your vehicle can easily be opened if it has this type of lock. Our clever young thieves will perform their task and drive away with your car in twenty to thirty seconds.

  Computer-Aided Locks

  Sophisticated car thieves who go after the more desirable luxury vehicles use a different approach. They will attempt to obtain a key for the vehicle to defeat both the alarm system and locks. The manufacturers of the more expensive luxury vehicles are taking a number of precautions to assure the consumer that their vehicles are protected from theft. Companies have manufactured keys with security devices such as computer chips embedded right on the keys themselves. These vehicles need to be stolen without any damage to them, so the key is mandatory. On most new cars, one key will operate both door locks, the ignition, the glove box and the trunk.

  One of the ways to get the key is by obtaining the ignition key code number, which is sometimes found behind the ashtray. The ignition key code number is printed on a sticker inside the door or on the nonvisible inside door lock itself. The key can be duplicated right at the scene by using a portable key maker.

  A vehicle can be stolen from a parking garage by either stealing the keys from the attendant's booth, bribing the attendant, or forcing the attendant to turn over the keys of the vehicle marked for theft. In parking garages, if the parking attendant is robbed of the keys, any number of vehicles can be stolen.

  Bump and Run

  Another method of stealing a luxury car is the bump and run. This seems to be the method of choice for obtaining luxury or in-demand vehicles. A bump and run occurs as follows: A chase vehicle follows a luxury car with only the driver in it until a semi-secluded area is available. When the target car is moving slowly, or is stopped, the chase vehicle will then bump into the rear of the vehicle. When the driver jumps out to survey the damage, a second person jumps into the vehicle and drives away. The stolen car is then parked at a nearby parking garage. Once in the garage, the vehicle check-in ticket, used to retrieve the car from the garage, can be sold, or the stolen vehicle can have its license plates changed to avoid detection. It is not uncommon to have this vehicle moved from parking garage to parking garage daily or weekly.

  Desirable vehicles are becoming harder and harder to obtain, so thieves have to invent more ways of obtaining these vehicles with little or no damage. Because of these vehicles' protection systems, owners are driving around confident that their vehicle will not be stolen. This confidence tends to aid the thief in his task.

  Getting It Started

  Once inside the vehicle, there are a number of ways to get it started. If the vehicle is a General Motors or Jeep product, the thief breaks open the le
ft side of the steering column, and inserts a screwdriver directly below the turn signal into a round cup mechanism. This will start the vehicle. To disengage the steering wheel lock, thieves use a device, also used by auto body repairmen and called a dent puller, or slap-hammer. A dent puller has a plastic or rubber handle on one end and a strong steel self-tapping screw on the other. In the middle is a weighted grip that slides from one end of the tool to the other. Once the screw is inserted into the ignition key slot, the weighted grip is moved back and forth causing the ignition lock to pop out, releasing the steering wheel lock.

  If the vehicle is a Ford truck, another system can be used to start the vehicle. Reach under the steering column, pull the ignition wires out, and attach them to the extra ignition locking system, turn the key, and you're off.

  Carjacking

  The latest trend in stealing cars is carjacking, which is one of the simplest and most straightforward types of crime that exists in America today. Carjacking differs from auto theft in that the vehicle is stolen while the owner is in it as opposed to stealing it without the owner's knowledge. Carjacking generally occurs in urban and densely populated areas as opposed to suburban and rural areas, because once taken by criminals the vehicle can easily be lost in traffic and congestion.

  There are many reasons why a vehicle is carjacked:

  1. The need for immediate transportation such as after a burglary, armed robbery, murder or kidnapping.

  2. To sell the vehicle and use the money for other criminal purposes.

  3. Thrillseekers who desire a vehicle to joyride in and who will ultimately abandon the vehicle, sometimes setting it on fire. This is most frequently done by teenagers. Sometimes gangs in urban ghettos require this as an initiation into the gang.

  4. The carjacker intends to kidnap the person operating the vehicle and will use the car to take the owner to an area where the owner will be raped, murdered,

  robbed, beaten or abandoned.

  The frequency of carjacking has created a market for alarms to combat it: self-defense weapons, ranging from mini-stun guns to mace, hot pepper spray, and electronic alarms that scream with ninety decibels or more of pulsating power. Carjacking is a direct physical confrontation, which could either go smoothly, the operator simply gives up his car, or more dangerously, there is a struggle and the operator ends up injured or killed.

  Because carjacking occurs at such a fast pace—the owner is immediately demanded to exit the vehicle or drive the carjacker somewhere —it is the type of crime that is fraught with tremendous stress. Carjackers should be portrayed in your works as highly stressed individuals willing to take tremendous risks and willing to carry out threats.

  Because of the violence associated with carjackings, Congress passed the Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992, which makes carjacking a federal offense. If apprehended and convicted of carjacking, the penalties imposed are much more severe than for regular car theft, so severe that not only are carjackers heavily fined, they can be sentenced to life in prison.

  Methods of Carjacking

  Here are few ways carjackers operate:

  Carjacking at a Mall Parking Lot. This is one of the most popular and easiest carjackings to perform. The carjacker waits between cars or leans against a car and waits for the person to enter their vehicle. A carjacker will usually wait by vehicles parked far away from the stores so that there are not many people around to witness the incident. Some people park far away, because they have brand new vehicles and do not want them dented by other car doors opening against them.

  Once the person puts the key in the door lock and unlocks the car, the carjacker has access to the vehicle, the person and the keys. During 1992 and 1993, Mauro and I experienced in our law enforcement area a tremendous surge in these types of carjackings, especially around Christ-

  mas. Although many people thought the carjackers intended to steal the vehicle and rob them, it appeared many of these carjackers ultimately took their female victims hostage, robbed them and raped them.

  Sometimes, carjackers will actually find a car whose owner has left it open and hide in the backseat waiting for the owner to return. In this scenario the owner knows the door is open and will simply enter the car and place the key in the ignition. Then he or she is suddenly confronted by a knife- or gun-wielding carjacker. At this point the carjacker will order the person to either exit the vehicle and leave his keys or to drive him to a location where the person is robbed, raped or sometimes murdered.

  Another method is to have a different carjacker pretend to examine a tire or will make a tire flat. The "disabled car" is next to the target vehicle. When the victim returns to her car, the carjacker will strike up a conversation about his "dilemma" in having his tires go flat on him, even though the vehicle may not belong to the carjacker. He may then ask the woman to contact the police for him or to give him a lift to the nearest service station so that he can get assistance. Of course, once inside the woman's vehicle, he begins his reign of terror.

  We have seen many instances in recent years where carjackers have forced the owner of a car from their vehicle in a mall parking lot and taken off only to find that they have an infant in the backseat. We have never heard of an incident in which the infant was harmed; usually the vehicle is abandoned a short time later. It seems as if infants are too much for carjackers to handle.

  Random Carjacking in Urban Areas. This type of carjacking occurs when a vehicle has pulled up to either a stop sign or a red light in a largely urban and heavily populated area. The carjacker walks up to the driver's window, produces a handgun or a knife, menaces the person with it, and orders the owner either to step out or to move over, at which point the carjacker will jump into the vehicle.

  When Joe was working as a detective for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, he investigated an incident that could only happen in New York. A woman was driving her car on Flatbush Avenue near Long Island College when she was carjacked at a red light. The carjacker approached her vehicle on foot from behind, pulled open the door, and produced a handgun. He shoved the handgun in the woman's face and ordered her to step out of the car. The woman, terrified, was thrown to the ground and the carjacker sped off in her vehicle, south on Flat-bush Avenue.

  The carjacker headed to the East New York section of Brooklyn. While the carjacker was stopped at a stop sign on the corner of Herzl Street, he had his carjacked vehicle carjacked! Yes, that's right, while carjacker #1 was stopped, another carjacker appeared, opened the door of the vehicle, and attempted to pull carjacker #1 out. Carjacker #2, realizing that the occupant was armed, produced a handgun and a gun battle ensued right in the street.

  Carjacker #2 was mortally wounded; however, carjacker #1 was shot in the neck and still lying on the ground when the police arrived. The police, thinking that carjacker #1 was the owner of the vehicle, and, therefore, the victim, removed him to the hospital where he was treated and interviewed. Carjacker #1, smart enough to realize that no one knew he had carjacked the vehicle, pretended to be the owner. Of course, once his identity was confirmed and the report of the original carjacking in another section of Brooklyn filtered down, carjacker #1 was arrested by detectives.

  On other occasions the carjacker will attempt entry from the passenger side. He produces a knife or gun and orders the driver to take him to a particular location or to simply drive around until further instructions are given. This type of carjacker has an emergency and selects the vehicle simply by which one is most convenient.

  The only way to avoid being carjacked in these circumstances is to lock your doors and keep your windows rolled up so a carjacker cannot easily obtain entry into a vehicle.

  Suburbs and Rural Areas. A carjacker will usually walk in front of a vehicle that has come to a stop or is at a light and pretend to pass out. At this point ninety-nine percent of drivers will exit the vehicle to see if the person is all right. The carjacker produces a knife or a handgun and commandeers the car.

  The Bump and Take. A
person will be operating their car on a road when they will suddenly be tapped from behind by another vehicle. While the victim and the carjacker exit their vehicles to check the damage, a passenger from the carjacker's vehicle will come around and steal the car. Quite often the vehicle used to bump the first vehicle was also carjacked, or stolen. This way, carjackers get two cars within a very short period of time.

  Chop Shops

  Chop shop is a law enforcement slang name for a location where stolen vehicles are dismantled and the parts sold off to garages and body shops at below market value. Most vehicles that are stolen are sold to chop shop operations for around five hundred dollars. These chop shops strip the vehicle and can make an enormous cash return on their investment, as much as double the initial selling price of the vehicle.

  Chop shops can be found just about anywhere — even in the street, mostly the dead-end type. Vacant lots on deadend streets are ideal because the trees located on these lots can be used to lift an engine or transmission out of the vehicle by using a chain over a strong branch. A car can be stripped of all sellable parts in under half an hour by a group of professionals. By removing twenty bolts, the whole front end, including the hood, both fenders, bumper and grill, can be separated from the vehicle. Front ends on late model cars are most desirable because they are used as replacement parts for vehicles damaged in accidents —and front end damage is the most common result of an accident.

  Another profitable section of a stolen vehicle is the rear end for the same reason. On late-model vehicles, replacement parts are hard to find because of the demand for the complete vehicle. These parts are extremely difficult to trace because there are no markings that will indicate they were removed from a particular vehicle.

  The newest item to steal from vehicles is the air bag. Air bags are sold legitimately for around $1200; stolen air bags are sold for $200 to $500. The bags are stolen and sold to auto repair shops to be installed in vehicles with accident damage to replace used air bags. Thieves have to be careful when stealing these items as setting them off makes them useless.