Ariela Lopez, Contributing Photographer

A task force of police departments across New Haven County is working to identify stolen cars and keep auto theft perpetrators off the streets.

After over a month of cross-department negotiations, the New Haven Police Department formally announced its cooperation with the Yale Police Department, the Connecticut State Police and departments from North Haven, West Haven, East Haven, Hamden, Naugatuck, Orange, Wallingford and Woodbridge to curb auto theft rates in the county. Each department is contributing at least two officers to the group.

The task force has already made 14 arrests and recovered nine stolen cars since Oct. 12, when it officially formed, NHPD Chief Karl Jacobson said at a Friday press conference alongside police chiefs and top city officials from the participating towns.

“This collaboration is what we need in law enforcement today, especially since the people committing these crimes know no borders,” Jacobson said. “It’s just been great, the collaboration and the officers that these gentlemen and women have sent to us.”

Reports of motor vehicle theft have increased in Connecticut in recent years. The state saw a 33 percent increase in auto thefts in 2023. 

Many such thefts have been attributed to the Kia Boyz — groups of adolescents who post videos of carjacking and joyrides on social media. The Kia Boyz have largely targeted pre-2021 models of Kias and Hyundais which lack immobilizers, an electronic security device that can prevent car thefts. 

The Yale Police Department’s annual security report from 2023 shows that the number of motor vehicle thefts in the YPD’s area of responsibility — in and around the University’s campus — skyrocketed that year. The YPD reported 169 instances of car theft in its reporting area in 2023, compared to 35 the year before.

“At Yale University, we have not been exempt from the car thefts and from experiencing things from juveniles who have stolen vehicles, not just creating issues for the larger public, but also for law enforcement as well,” Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell said at the press conference.

So far this year, New Haven has received 884 reports of car thefts, a 15 percent decline from this time last year. 37 percent of the cars reported stolen are Kias or Hyundais, Jacobson noted. The NHPD has also recovered 400 cars in New Haven stolen from other municipalities, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

Jacobson cited technology like Stop Sticks, devices used to deflate tires from a distance, and Star Chase, GPS tracking tags for vehicles, as contributing to the decline in thefts. He noted that police have arrested 121 juveniles in New Haven so far this year for car thefts. 

“What we’ve learned about this crime is that it grows from a level of organization, and it is incredibly fast-moving,” Wallingford Mayor Vinny Cervoni said at the press conference. “That requires a response that involves an equal or superior level of organization.”

Jacobson said that the auto theft task force was created originally by the Connecticut State Police, which still funds overtime for involved officers.

Outside of the task force of patrol officers, NHPD detectives at the department’s intelligence center are working to identify abandoned cars and write warrants for the people stealing them. Jacobson described NHPD’s intelligence technology as “an open door” accessible to the partnering departments. 

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker noted that the city has been distributing free wheel locks to residents for cars that “typically get stolen.” The Yale Police Department has also been providing free wheel locks, per an email from Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell on Sept. 5.

Elicker also emphasized that the population of juvenile auto theft perpetrators comprises a “very, very small fraction of the overall young people in our city.” The mayor highlighted the city’s investment in youth jobs and street outreach programs. 

“We want our youth to be successful, and we will do everything that we can to make sure that our youth is successful,” Elicker said. “However, if our youth continue to not have accountability at all, continue to not accept those resources and engage in dangerous and, in many cases, violent behavior, we need to have some accountability for that very small number of youth that are engaged in that type of activity.”

In September, Elicker expressed support for increasing the number of juvenile detention centers in the state to counter auto thefts. 

The uptick in auto thefts has caused concern for New Haveners throughout the past year. On Election Day, Maurice Douglas, a poll moderator in Dixwell, said that the Kia Boyz’ auto thefts were among the neighborhood’s most pressing issues.

Former Beaver Hills Alder Thomas Ficklin, who passed away in October, penned a letter to his neighborhood addressing car theft anxieties. In early October, Jacobson and two other NHPD officials met with Beaver Hills residents to discuss the prevalence of auto thefts.

A special election to replace Ficklin will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 19.