George Hunter

The Detroit News

Detroit — Carjackers don’t usually try to profit from the vehicles they steal — they’re just looking for a free ride, police say.

“Most of them just dump the vehicle somewhere after they steal it,” said Detroit Sgt. Robert Wellman, a member of the department’s Commercial Auto Theft squad since 1999. “They’re not interested in selling it; they just wanted a ride, so they took it.”

Those rides are becoming fewer and far between as carjackings in Detroit have dropped 69 percent from 1,231 in 2008 to 379 last year. As of April 19, there had been 91 carjackings in 2017, down from 102 during the same period in 2016.

Police officials credit the decrease to several factors, including the 2014 launch of a joint anti-carjacking effort involving Detroit police, the FBI, ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and centralizing carjacking investigations in 2009, which allows police to study citywide crime patterns.

But in several Detroit neighborhoods, carjackings still are a constant threat, and in a city that averages more than one per day, Chief James Craig said he’s not satisfied.

“The numbers are down, but we’re not going to wave a flag of success,” said Craig, who reported he suspected a man was about to carjack him shortly after he became chief in 2013. “There is still work to be done.

“Carjacking is the kind of crime that strikes fear into average citizens. I won’t say it’s unique to Detroit, but when I came here, I was struck by how often it happened, and how it was just accepted as an everyday part of life.”

The Detroit News is credited with coining the term “carjacking” in a 1991 story about a 22-year-old drugstore cashier, Ruth Wahl, who was killed when she refused to give up her SUV. Michigan’s carjacking law, adopted in 1994, mandates up to life in prison for a vehicle thief who also commits “violence or the threat of force or violence, or who puts (the vehicle owner) in fear.”

The FBI and most other police departments do not separate carjackings from other robberies when tallying crime statistics. Detroit was once thought to have the highest number of carjackings in the U.S., although according to reports, Baltimore had 402 carjackings last year, 23 more than Detroit. Baltimore also has fewer residents: 622,000 to Detroit’s 680,000.

Despite the recent decline in Detroit, resident Horatio Moore said the fear of being carjacked is real in his neighborhood near Seven Mile and Evergreen on the city’s northwest side.

“If you want to get ‘jacked,’ just drive down Seven Mile,” said Moore, 52. “I know a guy who got killed in a gas station (during a carjacking). A kid came right up and shot him. These people are crazy out here.”

‘Carjack Alley’

On a two-mile stretch of Seven Mile between Evergreen and Greenfield, there were 11 carjackings last year — an average of one every three blocks — according to Detroit police data.

Six of those carjackings were within six blocks of the Qight Tight Barber Shop on Seven Mile. Customer Jeff Herron said young people often commit crimes such as carjacking because they have nothing constructive to do.

“Idle hands are the devil’s playground,” said Herron, 29, as he waited to get his hair cut recently. “They’re building all these nice things downtown, but where are the youth clubs? There’s nothing for these kids to do, so they’re like, ‘let’s find a gun and ’jack somebody.’”

Wellman said carjackings tend to be impulse crimes.

“Mostly, it’s just a random act,” he said. “It just happens. Sometimes, carjacking wasn’t the original intent, but the opportunity presents itself.”

Carjackers sometimes surprise officers when they explain why they did it, Wellman said.

“A few years ago when we had the real bad winter, there were five or six kids carjacking people because they didn’t want to walk to school,” he said. “One kid (15 years old), whose mom was a nurse, was using a BB gun; he did three carjackings. He said he didn’t want to walk through the snow. This kid had a real high IQ. His mom couldn’t believe it.”

Most carjackings in Detroit happen between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., Wellman said, adding Wednesdays and Thursdays see the fewest carjackings.

“The rest of the days (of the week) are pretty consistent,” he said.

The average victim is a black man in his 20s, Wellman said. About 10 percent of carjackers know their victims and about 5 percent of victims are hurt, he said.

Last year, July through September saw the largest spike in carjackings, mirroring other crime trends during the hottest months.

While there was a spate of carjackings on West Seven Mile last year, Wellman said East Seven Mile for years has been the city’s worst area for the crime, due in part to a large number of gas stations and other businesses there.

“That’s called Carjack Alley,” he said.

There were 46 carjackings last year in Detroit’s east-side 5th Precinct, the highest in the city. Three other precincts with more than 40 carjackings were the 8th (northwest), 11th (east) and 12th (west).

Wellman said his unit gets a number of false reports.

“It makes for a convenient excuse,” he said. “We recently had a couple, where the man had three previous drunk driving offenses, and he got drunk and wrapped his car around a pole. The wife reported they’d been carjacked, but when we interviewed the husband, he (confessed) in about 20 seconds.”

Citizen tips helping

When the police department centralized carjacking investigations in 2009, it had an impact, Wellman said.

“When investigations were at the precincts, there wasn’t a lot of communication between precincts about cases,” he said. “Now, it’s centralized, so we can look at case links across the city and see trends and patterns.”

Also credited with driving down carjackings: Tougher sentences under the Detroit One Partnership, made up of the Detroit Police Department, the FBI, ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Under the initiative, carjackers are charged in federal court, where longer prison sentences often are handed down.

Wellman said the Help Eliminate Auto Theft program, which distributes $2,000 rewards for tips that lead to carjackers’ arrests, also has helped.

“Anytime there’s a carjacking with a suspect we can’t identify, we use the tip program,” Wellman said. “We rely heavily on tips.”

Citizen tips led police to the man who jumped into a vehicle occupied by 85-year-old Detroit resident Mabel Coats in September. After the man ordered Coats out of the SUV and drove away, her daughter posted a video on Facebook Live giving a description of the Chevy Tahoe and the person who took it.

Officers had been alerted to be on the lookout for the vehicle, which was stopped a few miles from the crime scene by detectives investigating an unrelated carjacking.

Dontonio Jones, 21, of Detroit was arrested and charged with carjacking, although Wayne Circuit Judge Shannon Walker in January lowered the charge to unlawfully driving away a vehicle, and sentenced him to three years of probation.

Coats said she was confused when Jones jumped into the vehicle.

“I heard a man start cussing, and I just thought it was more of that dirty rap music,” said Coats, who was waiting inside the SUV while her daughter shopped at a Citgo gas station. “It all happened so fast; I didn’t have time to think.”

Coats said she’s thankful to be alive.

“If you could sum up my feelings in one sentence, it’s that I’m blessed to be here to talk about what happened,” she said. “You see so many times when people are hurt or killed by a carjacker, so I feel lucky.”

Coats said she was reading a bank slip when Jones jumped into the vehicle.

“People need to be alert and use good judgment, “ Wellman said. “If you see a bunch of people hanging outside a gas station, don’t go there. And gas up during the day, instead of waiting until night.”

He also suggested motorists surrender their vehicles.

“We encourage citizens to cooperate,” he said. “You can replace your car, but you can’t replace your life.”

ghunter@detroitnews.com

(313) 222-2134

Twitter: @GeorgeHunter_DN