U.S. Philadelphia reaches 1,000 carjackings for first time: Fox News

NEW YORK, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Carjackings in the U.S. city of Philadelphia have spiked in recent years and on Tuesday vehicle thefts in the City of Brotherly Love topped 1,000 within this year, an all-time high reported, said Fox News.

"Philadelphia goes over 1,000 carjackings for first time ever ... 1,005 total carjackings at end of day Sept. 27," said the report.

The city's number of carjacking had surpassed the previous record of 847 thefts in 2021, which had doubled from 410 carjackings in 2020, according to the report.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw speculated that one of the reasons for the increase in vehicle theft, often through armed or violent means, is that it has become a crime of opportunity as deliveries rose during the pandemic and have remained high since.

Other major cities in the United States also saw such crime rising. In 2020 Minneapolis saw a staggering 537 percent increase in carjackings between November 2019 and November 2020. Chicago reported a roughly 135 percent increase in all of 2020 and Washington, D.C. reported similar figures at a 136 percent increase.