Community tired of the same old stolen tire, stolen car story | The Riverdale Press

By Sachi McClendon

Ah, the wheel. It’s mankind’s finest invention.  It is also come to be pretty a warm commodity for intruders in the northwest Bronx. We’re speaking about wheels for cars and trucks, together with tires and rims.

All about Riverdale and Kingsbridge, the tire-considerably less autos can be identified: a black Honda Accord by P.S. 24 Spuyten Duyvil, a white Honda CR-V by Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy, a metallic CR-V in front of Moss Cafe.

Photos taken immediately after the point inform substantially of the story: As rapid as a NASCAR pit crew, the perps jack up the car or truck, unscrew the bolts and eliminate the wheels — leaving the auto balancing, as is often the situation, on cinderblocks. 

Over the previous year, the theft of car or truck parts has grow to be a booming business enterprise in the northwest Bronx. Of the 641 grand larcenies fully commited this 12 months, by considerably the broad bulk — 216 — came from the theft of “vehicular or motorcycle” add-ons. Evaluate that to very last yr when only 59 of the 445 grand larcenies came from theft of car or truck components. That’s additional than a 250 {7b5a5d0e414f5ae9befbbfe0565391237b22ed5a572478ce6579290fab1e7f91} jump in the 50th precinct alone.

“Where we’re looking at these clusters happen, it is all Henry Hudson Parkway,” mentioned Sgt. Vincent Caprino when requested by The Riverdale Push at a the latest 50th precinct neighborhood council meeting.

“It’s pretty quick to go along the provider road … steal rims and tires, load them up in the automobile, and then just hop on the highway and go either up to Yonkers or go again into Manhattan.”

Weekly reports from the 50th Precinct show that victims estimate the price of the tires and rims to be any place from $1,000 to $2,500 each.

Another car aspect obtaining a large amount of exclusive interest from robbers not long ago: the catalytic converter. According to the New York Submit, 5,548 converters were stolen via Aug. 14 of this calendar year. In 2021, there experienced only been 1,505 by the exact same time in August.

Sgt. Caprino agreed that the theft of catalytic converters is one particular of the major issues citywide for the law enforcement.

“One of the problems is (that) people sections are not conveniently traceable. So when these guys go and they slice these catalytic converters out, there’s no way to seriously keep track of whose converter is,” he said. “So what they’ll do is they’ll choose these converters and they will offer them to various retailers.”

Performing in teams, Caprino ongoing, the group will double park in entrance of a motor vehicle, generally at evening, even though a person perp receives under the car to observed off the converter, which can then be resold for all-around $1,000.

“These fellas are really crafty,” he reported. “To mask the sounds of the observed they will actually engage in songs reasonably loud.”

At least one person in the city council is trying to nip that practice in the bud. In September, Councilman Justin Brannan introduced a invoice that would prohibit scrap steel stores from getting and selling employed catalytic converters.

“Cops can’t be everywhere at all moments,” Brannan instructed The Riverdale Press in the slide. “The only way to set an stop to this is by prohibiting the scrap metal dealers from purchasing catalytic converters in the first position. You really do not have to be Sherlock Holmes to know if a person will come in seeking to promote 10 catalytic converters that they’re all stolen.”

Whether or not burglars are concentrating on wheels a lot more than catalytic converters is unclear as information offered by the NYPD does get that granular. Continue to, anecdotal evidence from citizens indicates tires are the loot du jour.

A resident who lives off Independence Avenue instructed The Press he’s surely noticed a substantial rise in car or truck thefts due to the fact the summer season. So a great deal so, that in buy to deter would-be burglars, he has experimented with parking his car or truck in well-lit locations, as he does not have access to a protected garage.

The 50th Precinct mentioned it is seeking to suppress the spike in automobile-portion thefts. “We want to deploy our models in parts that are observing these spikes, looking for some of all those signs,” Caprino claimed.

“If it is two in the early morning and someone’s double parked and the car’s idling, you may possibly want to test that out, from our end at the very least.”

He extra that he is scheduling on partnering with neighboring precincts to see if they can recognize prevalent themes and styles in order to track down suspected crime rings.

But even nevertheless, thefts of all stripes have skyrocketed in the northwest Bronx. According to NYPD’s crime stats for the 50th, there has been a 44 p.c boost in grand larcenies this yr compared to 2021, a 30 p.c raise in burglaries, and a 75 per cent increase in robberies. For grand larcenies, this is the optimum range observed considering that the NYPD began publishing its crime data back again in 1993.