He normally parks his blue 2023 Chevrolet Camaro at the front of AMC NorthPark 15, but it was packed. So, Moreno parked further away than he normally would that June night.
After the movie ended around 9:40 p.m., all the vehicles were gone from the lot — including his own. One of his first instincts was to press buttons on his key fob to trigger his car’s alarm.
“Maybe I just parked somewhere else and, for some reason, I’m forgetting,” he thought. But he heard no response.
While Moreno reported his stolen vehicle to the police, his sister Brittney Mairena turned to another forum for help: the “DFW stolen cars and trucks” Facebook page. With rising auto theft rates in the city in recent years, residents have increasingly turned to similar social media.
Though stolen vehicle rates in Dallas are trending lower in 2024 compared to last year, they’ve increased overall in the past decade in Texas and nationally. In Dallas, auto theft is down more than 10% so far this year, according to Dallas Police Department data. But stolen vehicle rates have increased significantly since 2021, from 11,219 that year to 18,769 in 2023 — a more than 40% rise.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau found that Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington was one of the regions of the U.S. with the highest number of stolen vehicles in 2023, coming in at number five. That year, there were more stolen vehicles in North Texas than in the New York- Newark- Jersey City metroplex.
Early the morning after her brother’s car was stolen, Mairena posted a photo of the Camaro to the Facebook group that has about 25,500 members. About two hours later, someone messaged her to let her know they spotted the car in downtown Dallas. Moreno secured his car less than 24 hours after it was stolen.
“We were just really fortunate, and we definitely would not have done it without the group,” Mairena said. “There’s no way we would have even known where to look.”
SOCIAL MEDIA AS A SOLUTION
Given the number of car thefts in the area, Mairena and Moreno weren’t sure how helpful the Dallas Police Department could have been in helping them retrieve the Camaro. They aren’t the only ones who feel that way.
Since the COVID–19 pandemic, Jaime De Los Santos, who founded “DFW stolen cars and trucks” said he’s seen a substantial increase in users.
De Los Santos has had two of his own vehicles stolen in the past decade — both Chevrolet Silverados. It was the first theft that prompted him to make the group in early 2015. That year, about 7,600 vehicles were reported stolen in Dallas, DPD spokesperson Kristin Lowman told The Dallas Morning News.
“It happened so quick,” De Los Santos said. “I had to take a double-take and be like, ‘OK, did I leave my car right here? I’m pretty sure I did.’”
He created the Facebook group to provide a way for victims of auto theft to help each other find their personal property. People “invest” in their vehicles, he said, so he wanted to give users an opportunity to “have a set of eyes out on the street” for them.
De Los Santos said the group is needed because he doesn’t believe the police prioritize stolen vehicles since they aren’t considered an immediate threat. Often, these vehicles are scrapped within 24 hours of being stolen anyway, he said.
Yet residents still look for help and support through social media. There were nearly 100 posts in the “DFW stolen cars and trucks” group in June alone. Most of those posts were about pickup trucks and muscle cars. There are “three, four, five, six posts a day,” he added.
“It’s not as successful as we would like it to be,” De Los Santos said. “But for the few that do recover it, it’s great.”
The most common vehicles stolen in Texas are typically pickup trucks, according to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. In 2020, five of the 10 most frequently stolen vehicle types were pickup trucks. While that number was the same in 2023, Hyundai and Kia vehicles also made it on the list.
This shift came as Kia and Hyundai vehicles experienced the highest theft rates nationwide in 2023. The vehicles lacked basic anti-theft devices such as an immobilizer, which can prevent vehicles from being hot-wired.
Kia and Hyundai have since launched software upgrades to protect their vehicles from auto theft.
TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL TO STEAL VEHICLES
Modesto Talamantes, an administrator for the “DFW stolen cars and trucks” Facebook page, said advances in technology, have made it easier for people to steal vehicles. People often use software to get into vulnerable vehicles, which makes it more difficult to protect them.
“If a thief wants that vehicle, it’s going to get stolen no matter what,” Talamantes said. “These guys are willing to do anything to take those vehicles sometimes.”
The vehicles are often scrapped for parts that are easily sold online, he said.
In a statement to The News, Lowman said increases in car theft are due to the use of technology like key programmers to create keys and steal vehicles, higher demand for vehicle parts and chips, and the increased price of used vehicles, which makes them more valuable to thieves.
People leaving keys in their vehicles and a population boost in North Texas are other reasons for the increase, she said.
Additionally, Lowman said DPD’s auto theft unit “works to investigate and dismantle chop shop operations” and is increasing the number of officers in areas where thefts have increased.
Reports from the NICB in 2023 found that many car thefts primarily involved two types of technology: the Flipper Zero and radio-frequency identification cloning kiosks, or RFIDs. Both devices, which can be legally obtained, either replicate or clone the signals of a key fob.
“We don’t know exactly how common this newer phenomenon of key programming is, but it is significant enough that we are working with law enforcement and various government agencies to raise awareness of its misuse and combat the scheme,” NICB spokesperson Nicholas Zeitlinger wrote in a statement to The News.
Lowman said DPD has taken “proactive steps to combat auto theft” in Dallas. “The Department deploys resources in areas where thefts are occurring, utilizes technology to help in investigations, and also conducts operations across the city in an attempt to decrease the number of thefts and arrest those who are committing this type of crime.”
But given the resources available to police, they often can’t respond quickly enough to recover a stolen vehicle.
It took more than an hour and a half for police to get to Moreno’s car after it was found downtown, he said. The experience left Mairena and Moreno grateful for the “DFW stolen cars and trucks” Facebook group.
“Definitely call the cops if your car is stolen, but don’t just rely solely on the cops,” Mairena said. “They are busy. You don’t know how far your case is going to be pushed back.”
©2024 The Dallas Morning News, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
