Carjackings spike in swing state as car thefts rise 38%, juvenile suspects increase 127%: investigators
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NCSBI) released a report last month noting a 38% increase in motor vehicle thefts, including carjackings, in 2023 compared to 2022, while overall crime rose 2.3% and violent crime dropped 0.1% across the state over the same time period.
Notably, NCSBI reported a 127% increase in juvenile suspects involved in motor vehicle thefts last year, with 836 juvenile arrests in connection with carjacking incidents in 2023 compared to 369 in 2022. Overall arrests for juveniles charged with crimes increased 35%, according to the analysis.
"North Carolina is not alone in seeing an increase in carjackings, but a 38% year-to-year increase is a shock to the system. It’s likely one of the reasons North Carolinians have shown an increased concern in recent years about the impact of crime in their lives," Mitch Kokai, senior political analyst for the John Locke Foundation, a North Carolina-based think tank, told Fox News Digital.
Police departments that saw a particularly jarring increase in carjackings in 2023 include Charlotte-Mecklenburg, which recorded 7,156 motor vehicle thefts last year compared to 3,202 in 2022; Durham, which recorded 1,913 carjackings in 2023 versus 826 in 2022; and Raleigh, which saw 1,691 carjackings last year compared to 1,037 in 2022.
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Those three cities also saw crime, generally, rise 13% between 2022 and 2023, according to NCSBI.
Cary, a smaller city outside Raleigh, also saw a more than 50% increase in motor vehicle thefts, reporting 306 in 2023 compared to 126 in 2022. Overall crime for the city rose 15% year-over-year in 2023, the NCSBI report shows.
"These numbers are unlikely to end up hurting state Attorney General Josh Stein’s bid to move from his job as North Carolina’s top law enforcement officer to its chief executive, but it’s an issue the next state AG should address moving forward. Carjacking has become a crime of choice in recent years. It seems North Carolina’s law enforcement agencies have work to do to make that choice more difficult," Kokai said.
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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) said in an Oct. 10 press release that the "overall number of vehicle thefts have not increased or decreased this year compared to this time last year, and the larceny from auto incidents have decreased 9% (7,645 in 2024 compared to 8,381 in 2023)."
The city has also recorded a 28% increase in homicides year-to-date in 2024, though CMPD's homicide investigation clearance rate is higher than the national average at 70% in the third quarter of 2024.
In July, CMPD Deputy Chief David Robinson said the department would "remain laser-focused on our top priorities, reducing violent crime, auto crimes and juvenile delinquency in our community."
"What the numbers tell us is that this is not just a law enforcement issue. It is a community issue and every citizen has a role to play," he said. "It will take all of us working collaboratively to ensure the safety of our great city."
In September, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) – the nation's largest police organization – endorsed Donald Trump for president at an event in Charlotte.
"Public safety and border security will be important issues in the last months of this campaign," FOP National President Patrick Yoes said. "Our members carefully considered the positions of the candidates on the issues and there was no doubt – zero doubt – as to who they want as our president for the next four years: Donald J. Trump."
Yoes said that during Trump’s first term, he "made it clear he supported law enforcement and border security," and he "stood with" police during riots in the summer of 2020.
"As the nation’s oldest and largest law enforcement labor organization, the FOP’s presidential endorsement is one of the most sought-after endorsements by candidates running for the presidency," Yoes said.
"The FOP is the number one voice of America’s law enforcement. We have a responsibility to our members, to the 800,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States, and to the communities they serve to do our part in determining the direction in which our country will head."