New York City is gripped with terror as 324 carjackings are reported this year — a number Chicago reached in February

The Big Apple is beside itself. Carjackings are “skyrocketing” in America’s largest city where an epic 324 hijackings have been reported so far this year, the New York Post reported Saturday.

Rookies.

Chicago recorded its 324th carjacking in February. And we did it with 6.1 million fewer people. Sit down and breathe into this paper sack, Gotham.

New York’s quaint 324 hijackings “is a whopping 277 percent spike from 2019, when NYPD data showed just 86 such incidents,” the Post said.

86? That’s adorable. Chicago had 390 carjackings in 2019.

The Windy City’s hustling hijackers ripped off 1,165 cars through September 18 this year, the city’s online crime data portal says. That’s 37% higher than last year and 199% higher than 2019.

And it’s 220% more than the number experienced by white-knuckled New Yorkers.

September in Chicago, with 95 cases as of the 18th, is pacing 44% ahead of the same month last year.

As we head in the final quarter of 2021, here’s a comparison of this year’s carjacking numbers for selected neighborhoods and community areas. West Town, which includes neighborhoods like Bucktown, Wicker Park, Noble Square, Ukrainian Village, and the Fulton River District, has the second-most cases of the city’s 77 community areas. Austin is first with 94 hijackings reported, according to the city’s data.

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About Tim Hecke 5785 Articles
Tim Hecke is CWBChicago's managing partner. He started his career at KMOX, the legendary news radio station in St. Louis. From there, he moved on to work at stations in Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City. Tim went on to build syndicated radio news and content services that served every one of America's 100 largest radio markets. He became CWBChicago's managing partner in 2019. He can be reached at tim@cwbchicago.com