Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Crime Pattern ID: Carjacking

Pattern: Carjacking

Victims: may be innocent persons, sometimes related to drug buying/dealing - victims who trade cars for a few hours to a drug dealer and call it a carjacking when they report the loss of their vehicle

Perpetrators: suspects in need of quick transportation, suspects who want a vehicle to take to be stripped, suspects who are in gangs 

Locations: more likely in large urban areas, near drug houses, at intersections when a vehicle is stopped, at gas stations, in parking lots... in South Africa the crime is called hijacking and there were 16,000 such crime there in one year - signs are posted for hot spots of the criminal activity

Times: various times of day

Entry/Approach Methods: may bump car with another car to initiate opportunity, may be hiding and attack victim

Weapons: often occur at gunpoint or threat of gun not displayed

Vehicles/Transportation Routes: may use vehicle in crime and discard it in their own neighborhood

Stolen Goods: vehicle, sometimes rob victim of wallet/purse/belongings

Method: a carjacking involves robbery of a vehicle while people are in the vehicle and is often a violent crime, sometimes victims are kidnapped as well, in rarer instances crime may lead to sexual assault or murder

Motive: to obtain a vehicle, also may be a need for power, or a need to escape a scene or obtain a vehicle to use in a crime/to commit a crime

Query terms: vehicle, car, robbery, carjacked, carjacking, stopped at light (or sign), fled in victim's vehicle (or car)

Suggestions: it is important to track all carjackings in your area to uncover any sort of patterns; query your databases for stolen cars AND robbery to find all incidents of carjacking; track all known carjackers in your jurisdiction

Resources:

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