As he watched his son chase after their stolen car, Kazi Mannan called 911, but the answer he received from the responding officers was not what he expected.

“The police… they came. They said, ‘Well, it’s just an everyday thing, you know. Just, like, chill.’ My kids, my family, were right outside. The whole family was traumatized.”

Kazi Mannan, owner of the Sakina Halal Grill, had his Range Rover stolen earlier this year in front of his restaurant as his family was gathered for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. A group of teens jumped in and stole the vehicle as soon as his niece opened the door to join the family waiting outside.

“It seems like they will file a report, but then you’re on your own,” Mannan said. “It took me almost four months to get insurance.”

As of December 14, over 3,300 vehicles have been stolen in Washington D.C. this year, a sharp increase from the previous year and a noteworthy milestone in a worrying trend.

Like all cities, D.C. suffers from an appreciable crime rate. Most notably, property crimes such as vandalism, burglary, and theft. Vehicle theft, legally known as grand theft auto, affects nearly all of the city, and has become increasingly prevalent in recent years.

“When I joined [the metropolitan police department] the big thing was theft from autos,” officer Junaid Baig of the Second District’s Auto Theft Unit said. “The biggest thing now is theft of autos. It’s gone up significantly since I’ve been here. Especially the last two years.”

The city has experienced an explosive increase in vehicle theft since 2019. Data from the Metropolitan Police Department’s own records indicate a series of noteworthy trends. From 2011 to 2019, vehicle theft declined from a high of 3,274 to a low of 2,190. However, in 2020, the number of stolen automobiles suddenly spiked to 3,263; A 49 percent increase in crime from the year before.

Criminals steal cars for any number of reasons known only to them. According to MPD, the most common is simply joyriding, but the vehicle may also be used as transportation for other crimes. It’s not unusual for a stolen car to be found abandoned after the driver drove it to a new location and stole a different vehicle.

Finalized data for 2021 is not yet available, but the current number of reported stolen motor vehicles is already 3,328. Over 260 more vehicles stolen than at the same point the previous year, and an average of 10 to 12 vehicles every day. Everywhere in the District of Columbia – from Tacoma Park, to Capitol Hill, to Glassmanor – the number and rate of vehicle thefts has increased. Cars have been stolen from outside residences at night and from businesses during the day. The perceived vulnerability has left many residents feeling unsafe.

“As a small business owner in downtown D.C., I feel threatened,” Mannan said. “I’m not safe anymore.”

Mannan’s family is more familiar with the effects of vehicle crime than most people in the city. Mohammad Anwar, a close friend of the family, was killed while working as an Uber Eats driver when two girls, ages 13 and 15, attempted to carjack him with a stun gun. After a struggle, Anwar was dragged beside the car before the vehicle flipped and struck multiple parked cars. The two girls were charged and eventually pleaded guilty to murder charges in juvenile court. Both received the maximum sentence, but due to their age will also be released from juvenile detention once they turn 21.

In the last decade, over 28,450 vehicles have been reported stolen. Certain sections of the city have transformed into, for lack of a better term, kill zones for parked cars. The corner of M Street NE and First Street NE is a particularly striking example. According to data available for the previous eight years, 109 vehicles have been stolen from that single city block. Of those, 67 vehicles, 61 percent of all its automobile thefts, have occurred in the past 11 months.

This year, almost 1,500 vehicles have been stolen along the length of 14 Street, with the highest concentration between R Street and V Street. In almost every area with high occurrences of vehicle theft, the number of incidents has increased. It’s not an anomaly to discover at least one-third of all car thefts in the past decade have occurred in the last year.

Progressives credit the economic effects of Covid for the increase in crime, while conservatives blame the societal effects of police reform resulting from issues such as the murder of George Floyd. Regardless of reduced department numbers or perceived monetary losses, across the entire nation, crime rates are up by double-digits.

The Metropolitan Police Department believes the root cause of the increase is a combination of Covid and economic changes. Specifically, they cite the increase in delivery services as the greatest contributing factor.

Uber Eats drivers, Amazon delivery vans, the number of all types of hurried couriers has increased tremendously since the pandemic began. As more people utilize these services, more employees are hired. Timetables shrink as the number of deliveries grow, and personnel try to shave time however they can. While the FBI and local police agencies do not record the theft or carjacking of delivery vehicles in a separate count, agencies such as the MPD say the frequency of delivery drivers leaving their vehicles unattended heavily contributes to the rising theft rate.

Vehicle theft is a crime of opportunity. An estimated 80 to 90 percent of all car thefts happen because vehicles are left accessible or running. Owners may leave their keys inside the car or the vehicle may utilize an electronic key fob which automatically unlock the doors by proximity. The vehicles are left vulnerable and freely accessible while the owners are away.

Hondas and Toyotas are among the most frequently stolen vehicles. Certain luxury brands such as Mercedes and Lexus are often targeted over comparable vehicles. Tellingly, according to data and testimony from MPD officers, across all types of vehicles stolen, one notable feature routinely becomes an obstacle for would-be criminals.

They don’t know how to drive a manual transmission.

The vehicles are usually parked and abandoned after the thief gives up, grows bored, or the vehicle runs out of gas. Not every car is recovered, and not every criminal is identified, but a large number of stolen vehicles have been traced to a single group from within a single location.

“What we’ve seen from the Second District is that the kids from Columbia Heights will come into our district and steal these cars,” Baig said. “We see a lot of these cars recovered, in that general location. It’s unfortunate, because the same kids are doing the same thing over and over again.”

The age of the juveniles involved in the crimes has been documented as low as eight years old. Often, a group of kids will steal a vehicle, drive it to a new location, and the passengers will hop out and attempt to steal other unlocked cars. Their goal is not the theft of the vehicles, but to raise their social status among friends. Peer-pressure and a desire to fit in push the kids to commit the crimes, despite there being no tangible or monetary gain. One eight-year-old admitted that he was only doing it because of his friends, after officers arrested him for the second time in one week.

In one documented incident, Crime Suppression Teams from the Second and Third District jointly surveyed an area known to have a high frequency of hop in vehicle thefts. The teams witnessed two minors arrive in a stolen vehicle, before quickly abandoning it to steal another. One suspect fled the scene before they could be arrested.

When asked for comment on the situation, a representative for the Third District said they were not at liberty to discuss “any detailed information regarding any juvenile crimes and the residential areas in which some of the offenders may reside.”

Some officers know who the responsible juveniles are, and routinely catch them, but the department is limited in how it can respond. Unless the minors are witnessed taking the vehicle, they can only be charged with UUV (unauthorized use of a motor vehicle) after being caught. The kids can be placed under house arrest or GPS surveillance, but do not face the same penalties as adults. The situation is exploited by the children who recognize the lack of repercussions. January of this year, Police Chief Robert Contee established a taskforce specifically to address the rise of vehicle thefts in the District.

Officers continue to respond within the constraints of the law and routinely ask the public to practice common sense safety to protect their vehicles, but the victims of these crimes demand more as the number of stolen vehicles continues to steadily rise.

“These teenagers, don’t just lock them up, help them up so they can get an education to break the cycle they keep going in,” Mannan said. “This is the capital of the world. If we are not safe a couple blocks from the White House, I feel ashamed.”