2020 was a year of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, but it appears criminals kept themselves pretty busy despite the coronavirus pandemic.
According to new statistics released by the FBI, motor vehicle thefts rose 11.8 percent in 2020 despite an 8.1 percent decline in overall property crime.
There’s no immediate explanation for the sudden increase in vehicle theft, but cars are pretty lucrative as they can be stripped for parts that can be sold for thousands of dollars. According to a study from the National Insurance Crime Bureau , a handful of the most frequently stolen 2016 model year vehicles have between 14 and 20 commonly replaced components that can easily be sold to unsuspecting buyers.
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In the case of the 2016 GMC Sierra, that includes the headlamp assembly, the front bumper and a tailgate that are worth between $724 and $1,144. When all those common components are added up, they’re worth more than $21,000 and this makes the truck appealing to thieves who can easily sell parts on Craigslist, eBay and Facebook Marketplace.
Getting back to the latest data, the FBI says there were 727,921 “motor vehicle theft offense counts” last year. That’s up from 667,064 in 2019 and 712,236 in 2018. More strikingly, that’s the most reported since 2008. Of course, it’s worth noting all of the agencies eligible to participate in the Uniform Crime Reporting Program don’t send in their information, so the total picture isn’t completely clear.
Putting that caveat aside, there were 67,095 arrests for motor vehicle theft last year and most of them were males between the ages of 25 and 29. However, it is interesting to note there were six arrests of people under the age of 10 and 167 arrests of people 65 and older.
