Things were going well for months, car theft numbers were trending down after Buffalo Police changed their strategy. But November brought an uptick in stolen Kia and Hyundai vehicles.
"We still have a significant problem, our numbers are just so far out of whack from what they were before this problem was discovered," said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.
It's an uptick in crime the Erie County District Attorney says he's never seen the likes of.
So why are our numbers trending up again? What's being done to make sure this doesn't follow us into 2024? We're revisiting this ongoing issue.
You'll hear from:
- Gretchen Morgan, a victim from East Aurora
- Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia
- Erie County DA John Flynn
- Dina Thompson, Executive Director of the Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition
The Victim
Seeing her car in the driveway brings a different kind of joy for Gretchen Morgan. Mostly because the car is not a Kia.
"The day I bought it, I was so happy and the day I got rid of it, I was even happier," said Morgan.
Her car was stolen from her driveway in East Aurora in May and she's been riding the roller coaster ever since.
She's spent thousands on car payments and maintenance and shared cars with her son and husband to get to work, but tells 7 News the biggest hurdle was getting rid of it.
"Obviously I don't want it. But nobody else wants it because it almost killed a police officer," said Morgan.
Authorities say a 19-year-old drove Morgan's car to the Town of Tonawanda, where police tried stopping him, but he drove off, dragging Officer David Piatek 60 feet and injuring him.
"I think that something more has to be done. Consequences have to be more severe," said Morgan.
The Police Commissioner
Commissioner Gramaglia agrees something more has to be done to protect our community, but his officers are working around the clock, still doing everything they can to crack down on this issue.
"We actually saw the stolen cars continue to decrease. I think some of the measures we were doing helped out," said Gramaglia.
But in November, the numbers started to go back up, but why?
"I can't say, I really don't know. I don't know if there's a couple of these kids that have gotten out of custody, that remains a problem too," said Gramaglia.
He says it comes down to accountability. With young offenders knowing they can get out, they're empowered to keep stealing.
And it's hard for him to see a day where this issue dies down.
"I think this is a problem that's years in the making," said Gramaglia.
The DA
District Attorney John Flynn thinks it will die down.
"There's some deterrent factor here in the sense that they don't want to get caught. And so, hopefully that will drive the numbers to continue to go down," said Flynn.
But his office is adding more manpower to deal with the influx, adding a second prosecutor to handle the cases.
"I'm thinking now, to maybe add a third," said Flynn.
The Restorative Justice Expert
Dina Thompson has seen these young offenders through her program to get to the root of the problem and get them on the right track.
She sees this as an iceberg, with so many underlying problems for these teens and their families.
"We're talking about parents who are working two or three jobs, they're working second shift jobs, they're trying to maintain their job, maintain their families and we find that out once we're bringing everyone together," said Thompson.
Eight more young offenders just completed the program.
Why are they doing this?
She cites mental health issues, trauma, lack of options for sustaining themselves, suspensions, homelessness and more.
"I've seen that youth have stolen cars in order for them and their friends to sleep in the cars," said Thompson.
She thinks this will die down, but says it's a gateway.
"Yeah they might not be doing this, but now what are they doing because the problems aren't going away," said Thompson.
What about that class action lawsuit?
Glad you asked. That $200 million lawsuit is still moving through the courts. The latest movement in court was approval from a federal judge on a settlement.
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP says notice of the settlement will be sent out to class members no later than March 4, 2024.
"Class members may file settlement claims during the notice period. If and when the court grants final approval of the settlement, payments to class members can begin. The court will hold a final approval hearing on July 15, 2024," their website reads.
Meantime, the WNY Stolen Vehicles groupis still putting work in daily to help victims.
