BALTIMORE COUNTY — Juvenile auto thefts have skyrocketed in Baltimore County and police said it's not just Kia and Hyundai vehicles.
30 seconds--- that's all it could take for a thief to steal a car.
"Our arrests are up over 500 percent for the juvenile arrests for stolen autos right now," said Detective Justin Warnick is with the Regional Auto Theft Task Force.
Baltimore County Police say they've made 90 arrests from January 1 to May 9 of this year for cars stolen by those under 18, compared to the 14 arrests from the same time last year.
During a ride along with Warnick, he told WMAR-2 News' Ashley McDowell it goes beyond just a stolen car.
"Most of the cars are stolen for other crimes. They're stolen to go out there to commit shootings, or murders or burglaries or robberies,” said Warnick.
Warnick said some of them are repeated arrests, as a slap on the wrist isn't stopping them, "Unfortunately it's a revolving door with the juveniles that the juveniles learn from when they go to court once or twice that nothing’s going to happen and they have no fear of committing further crimes."
Push to start cars aren't the target of the thefts. Warnick said it's as simple as people leaving keys in their car, and that it's a continuous effort for officers to catch these young thieves.
"Don't let your guard down, other car's you know Hondas, Dodges, they're all still being stolen.” Warnick said, “So I’m just constantly looking constantly running tags, I’m using technology on the truck to scan tags for me, we use a variety of resources to look for stolen autos."
Part of the resources is working with the Baltimore City Police. The auto task force is a combined effort between the two, leaving no boundaries.
"I have dual jurisdiction and our city officers have duel jurisdiction in the county. So we're able to travel back and forth to target these stolen autos and the borders do not stop us,” said Warnick.
As Warnick drove through the parking lot looking for anything that looks off. He warns everyone to lock their car doors and take the keys with you. Leaving one message for the juvenile auto thieves, “We're going to catch you, we may not catch you on the first we may not catch you on your second one but we're going to catch you."
