I hate to start a political debate but this has an automotive context. According to our local newspaper’s editorial board, Hyundais and Kias account for 77% of vehicle thefts in St. Louis, not because they’re relatively easy to steal but because the Police Department is understaffed. So the current administration should devote its energy to hiring more police instead of trying to hold Hyundai/Kia accountable. In other words, it’s the Mayor’s fault the vehicles are being stolen?
I am not a fan of the current Mayor but she didn’t design or manufacture the vehicles in question and it’s hard not to understand her frustration. One recent TV news story was about three teenage miscreants who abandoned a stolen Hyundai and continued on their way after stealing a Kia while being pursued by a police helicopter. More police would probably help but Hyundai/Kia would seem to bear a large share of blame. Editorial: As St. Louis police remain understaffed, city blames automakers for car thefts
I would blame those who defunded the police, the thieves and maybe their parents. sometimes the parents try there hardest, and the kids still turn out bad.
There is an easy hack to steal those cars, even cities with more officers are not able to control the thefts. How Thieves Are Stealing Hyundais and Kias With Just a USB Cable
My suggestion would be to remove the revolving doors in the courtrooms and jailhouses.
Not disputing SL police dept not staffed properly, but why would that cause more thefts of H & K vehicles compared to other makes? If these makes are easier to steal, seems like common sense that these will get stolen the most, irrespective of police funding. Wouldn’t these makes still be stolen the most even if funding were increased?
Hard to understand how H & K would release a design that is easy to steal. Maybe car theft isn’t a common event in Korea, so worrying about it is low priority there, even the engineers and marketers.
I would too, except there is scant evidence of that actually having taken place (despite undocumented claims of such things).
Maybe de-funding of the police took place in St. Louis–or other areas distant from me–but I have not seen any LE defunding taking place anywhere near me. In essence, “defunding the police” seems to be a meme that is largely unsupported by facts.
While it might have been proposed by some radical factions, I don’t think that it has actually taken place.
Is local Gov’t backing the police, or are they letting them right out as ok4450 mentioned? If they are just letting them out there is no deterrent for them to stop. and if they are just letting them out, the police just get frustrated and say why bother risking their lives and the potential of getting shot.
Defunding is part of it but the war on police and even throwing them in jail has increased people leaving and making it impossible to hire full staffing. Then the creation of the bail fund means that many are out on the street the next day. No one is held accountable. Then of course there is a whole new batch of essentially Ferrell youths on the street. Minneapolis is a disaster area with kids as young as 13 doing car jacking. There was even a gun fight on the u of m campus all caught on camera. The whole issue is just ignored
Yes, they would. As for the “defund the police” argument, back in April, 2021, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment voted to redirect $4 million from the 2022 police budget to social services and eliminate 98 positions that were already vacant. The Mayor voted in favor. Her opposition attributed crime to the decision even before it took effect. Fact check: Budget cuts to St. Louis police dept. not approved yet
I don’t live in The St Louis area and am not very familiar with the issues. However, it does seem like this might have been a response to the unnecessary deaths of people in distress that the police are ill equipped to deal with. If domestic problems, even those where a weapon is involved, are attended to by both social services and the police then the distressed person might be talked into surrendering without hurting others.
I’m not in favor of defunding police and also believe that they can’t handle every issue that comes up. There needs to be social services alternatives available to 911 when they are called for domestic issues. The 911 folks also need training in when to call in others besides the police. This seems to be a new way to respond and it will take time to figure out how to do it. Even then it won’t be completely effective.
If it was ignored, how did you find out about it?
“Forensic scientists from the Minneapolis Police Department canvassed the scene and located evidence of gunfire.
Minneapolis officers from four of the five police precincts in the city along with personnel from the U of M Police Department responded to the incident.
The Minnesota State Patrol’s helicopter also helped with the incident.“
How is that ignoring the situation?
How many were arrested? Are they still being held. I do not dispute the various law enforcement staff responded and did what it could, but the issue is what happened after that? They simply have their hands full and the campus police have had many other thefts and assaults to deal with over the past few years. It is not the safe campus it once was regardless of the police efforts. It just shows a general breakdown of respect for laws and worsening.
I check a lot of sites and don’t recall which one showed the camera footage. It might have been alpha news since I’m locked out of both the strip and pioneer press unless I want to pay.
Not to mention there was a shooting at the state fair last night, closing the fair early. I don’t remember that ever happening before. The fair police were all fired last year.
Unless it it a high profile case follow up is rarely reported. Newspapers no longer have the number of reporters they had 20 years ago. They mostly print news releases from the wire services.
Our local newspaper rarely reports shooting or traffic accidents unless someone dies. Local TV news has a limited time factor, anything over 24 hours is old news.
Note: the MN State Fair shooting made national news outlets.
Follow up on the shooting you mentioned might be in the U of M newspaper if it still exists—The Daily when I lived there.
It is a sad state of affairs, I lived in SE Mpls. in the 60s, we could go anywhere, day or night, on foot, bicycle, or car.
I have probably be down that alley.
+1
Learning the outcome–or even events following an initial incident–seems to be very difficult to find nowadays. Follow-up has been rare for quite a few years, unless a case involves a celebrity.
Meet the Press had a special edition this morning on the issue of police response to domestic disturbances. The case they highlighted was a teen in Greensboro, MD with bipolar disorder. He caused a disturbance and was eventually subdued by the police. He died at the end of his subdual of a heart attack. Interesting that all the people in the panel thought the police effort was excessive including a representative of a police organization. The discussion wasn’t as simple as that. The entire panel also agreed that the police should be funded and that they need help. It’s worth watching on NBC online. Today’s show should be available Monday.
Police are trained to use increasing use of force until the suspect complies with the commands. If they say stop you stop. Very few people die when they follow commands given them. The time to fight is after-ward not during an arrest. People on drugs or with mental issues are a problem but unless they have a sign hanging on them how would you know?
How do you folks think law enforcement and/or the legal system should handle this problem? 12 members of a motorcycle group arrive at private residence in quiet neighborhood. 25 mph street used mostly for the residents living on the street. Group afternoon party. Some of the members become a little boisterous, and walk into the street and block vehicles passing by, seemingly just to chat about how their days are going, the weather, etc. Residents none too happy and phone police, saying their ability to drive along their street is being blocked by strangers. What should the police do? Should the legal system be involved? If so, what should the legal system do?
Warn them not to impede traffic, then do random checks. Cite as needed.
It’s called the “force continuum.” Among other things, it means you don’t shoot someone who is armed with fists. I’d also amend your comment as “very few white people die…” The killing of Michael Brown happened in our backyard and Mayor Jones also happens to be Black. I freely admit I will never understand her perspective.
Returning to the original topic, when two makes of vehicles from closely related companies account for 77% of vehicles that are stolen, it just might have to do with something other than the number of police on the street or how the courts treat offenders.
I have been hearing about this. Apparently some have also crashed stolen cars through the front of marijuana dispensaries or gun stores to rob them in the area.
I am curious how the engine immobilizer in these cars works. I have a 2000 Chevy S10 that uses a cut metal key with no chips. Apparently there is an immobilizer that keeps the engine from running if someone tries to hotwire it or whatever. This part failed once and had to be replaced on my truck. A light came on and it would randomly not start.
Most modern cars have chip keys that must be programmed to the car or the car programmed to recognize. Does Kia not use this type of setup?
I seem to recall some sort of software hack being used to steal MOPAR vehicles several years back. My brother had a Jeep that was impacted and the software had to be upgraded/flashed to fix this bug. It sounded like some high dollar Chargers were being taken and shipped across the border to Mexico and possibly other countries as they could be used in those countries but wouldn’t ever be able to be registered in the US because they were stolen. It sounds like the Kia deal cannot be fixed with a software upgrade.
The soft on crime stance in many of these large cities certainly isn’t helping with this or other crime.