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Cook County authorities say carjackings are soaring in Chicago and in nearby suburbs.
In fact, carjackings are nearly at their worst in two decades, prompting a community alert by Chicago law enforcement. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office shared data showing a 43.5% uptick in carjackings countywide in the last year. The sheriff’s office shows that throughout most of the year, the crime is most commonly committed on Tuesdays, though Sunday carjackings have been on the rise, WGN 9 shared, among other findings. Roe Conn of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office told the station: “I’ve had guys tell me they started to do this as soon as they were tall enough to reach the pedal and that’s disturbing on so many levels.”
Sheriff Tom Dart previously explained to the Chicago Sun-Times that it was important that his office compile data to piece “the puzzle together” rather than making sense of what was happening in each town separately: “Every town had their own data. You had no idea what was going on in the town next to you.” Data show that many carjackings are happening in suburbs on the west side of the city, and men often fall victim to the crime, reports show.