BALTIMORE – With car thefts in Baltimore City at an all-time high, City Council members are taking action to try to stop them.
The council plans to hold a hearing that brings several agencies together to try to tackle this problem.
Councilman Zeke Cohen, who represents parts of Southeast Baltimore, is the driving force behind this effort to reduce car thefts in the city.
It comes after a member of his district was killed during a carjacking over the summer.
Car thefts are up 220 percent in Baltimore in 2023.
According to data from the Baltimore Police Department, there have been more than 7,700 car thefts this year and 380 carjackings.
Councilman Cohen says there are about 27 cars stolen in the city each day.
At Monday night’s council meeting, Cohen proposed a resolution to hold an investigative hearing with state and local agencies to try to brainstorm ways to reduce the number of car thefts.
When WJZ interviewed Cohen about this hearing, he brought up one of his constituents, 57-year-old Darrell Benner, who was killed trying to help his nephew while he was being carjacked on South Curley Street in Canton last month.
“That to me shows that this is a really serious issue in our communities, and through collaboration and working together with state local and federal partners, I believe we can make a serious dent in reducing this very serious crime.”
There is not a date set for the hearing yet.
Coming up tonight on WJZ News at 11, you will hear from Baltimore County Police on how car thefts are affecting their communities, and what police and leaders in both jurisdictions are doing to prevent more of these crimes.
