In 2023, vehicle theft became an epidemic in the Washington, D.C., area, as the rate soared, with more than 6,000 cars stolen this year in the capital city.
High-profile carjackings included Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), whose vehicle was stolen at gunpoint outside his apartment building.
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A Secret Service agent was forced to protect President Joe Biden’s granddaughter by opening fire after three people tried to break into an unmarked Secret Service vehicle in Washington, D.C.
By November, Uber set out plans to improve driver safety by verifying a rider’s identity amid a national carjacking surge and targeting rideshare drivers.
Some of the most brazen vehicle thefts of 2023 involved a man accused of stealing a University of District of Columbia Police cruiser, multiple stolen Amazon delivery vans, UPS and FedEx trucks, and even an ambulance was stolen.
Only one type of car seemed to foil the carjackings: cars with a manual transmission. Numerous incidents of carjackers struggling to figure out how to drive the vehicles spread from Arlington, Virginia, to Washington to Maryland.
Carjacking offenses continued to soar into the last month of the year.
The car thefts became more brazen as a suspect decided to steal a Salvation Army van that helped feed warm meals to the homeless every day for the past 40 years. Eventually, the van was recovered, and the suspect was arrested.
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According to data from the Metropolitan Police Department, robbery has increased by 69%, violence crime by 40%, and motor vehicle theft by 89% in 2023.
Many political leaders, such as Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, speculated that the crime wave in the nation’s capital had a factor in the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards deciding to enter negotiations with Virginia leaders for new arena locations.
