By: Dwayne Landers
We looked into the numbers to find out how often it’s
happening
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It doesn’t matter where you live, it’s
happening almost daily in Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Amherst, Eden. People
are stealing cars in areas all around WNY “I think you’d have to be living
under a rock to think stolen cars aren’t a problem,” said Chief Brian
Gould of the Cheektowaga Police Department.
The latest incident happened in Cheektowaga early Monday morning,
two cars were stolen in Depew, leading to a chase that sent an officer to
the hospital.
Gould and leaders of police departments around the region admit it’s
something they’re struggling with. From TikTok challenges targeting
Kias and Hyundais to random break in attempts.
Let’s break it down by region.
The latest incident happened in Cheektowaga early Monday morning,
two cars were stolen in Depew, leading to a chase that sent an officer to
the hospital.
Gould and leaders of police departments around the region admit it’s
something they’re struggling with. From TikTok challenges targeting
Kias and Hyundais to random break in attempts.
Let’s break it down by region.
Buffalo
There have been more than 300 car thefts in the city so far this year,
looking at numbers from the city’s public crime dataset.
That’s more than double where we were this time last year, which was
151.
We looked into the numbers to find out how often it’s
happening
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It doesn’t matter where you live, it’s
happening almost daily in Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Amherst, Eden. People
are stealing cars in areas all around WNY.
“I think you’d have to be living under a rock to think stolen cars aren’t a
problem,” said Chief Brian Gould of the Cheektowaga Police
Department.
The latest incident happened in Cheektowaga early Monday morning,
two cars were stolen in Depew, leading to a chase that sent an officer to
the hospital.
Gould and leaders of police departments around the region admit it’s
something they’re struggling with. From TikTok challenges targeting
Kias and Hyundais to random break in attempts.
Let’s break it down by region.
Buffalo
There have been more than 300 car thefts in the city so far this year,
looking at numbers from the city’s public crime dataset.
That’s more than double where we were this time last year, which was
151.
There’s been a stolen car report every day in 2023 in Buffalo
Officials say it’s getting worse, now that criminals know they can steal a
car and only have to deal with a simple catch and release.
“They’re telling our officers on the street, just give me my appearance
ticket so I can leave and out the door they go,” said Joe Gramaglia,
Buffalo Police Commissioner.
Amherst
There have been 45 car thefts so far this year in Amherst, according to
police.
“There are a lot of people out there just looking for a crime of
opportunity and they will steal your car. We’ve had numerous occasions
where it’s the same offenders, many occasion,” said Captain Charles
Persons of Amherst Police.
One of those was caught on a Ring camera.
