Earlier this month Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that New York state is devoting $55 million to new initiatives to combat rising car thefts, but car thefts and break-ins continue to be a big problem for many communities across the state.
Sam Rendazzo was just one of several residents who say their cars were broken into early Saturday morning.
“I think there was about 20 cars [broken] between this lot and the lot over there,” said Rendazzo, a resident at an apartment complex in Rochester. “A good dozen cars here from what I understand.”
And although he says he had nothing stolen, he had two vehicles that were broken into.
“I’ll call my insurance company, get it repaired and that’s about it and hope it doesn’t happen again,” Rendazzo said. “Cause I know nothing’s going to come of this. It’s a sad state of affairs that we’re in. But it’s the reality.”
Crimes involving cars are a reality that’s become a new normal for many across New York state. When it comes to car thefts specifically, officials say so far this year there have been more than 2,500 cars stolen in the city of Rochester alone.
“That really peaked late spring, early summer we had quite a few we were upwards of almost 400 a month, I think 370 something,” said Lt. Greg Bello, public information officer for the Rochester Police Department.
These car crimes have many residents wanting answers.
“To find cash on the ground, I don’t understand,” Rendazzo said. “It doesn’t make any sense. What was the whole object of doing what you did?”
“People need to be held accountable in one way shape or form,” resident Stephanie Defazio said. “Like how is the response of ‘There’s nothing we can do, call your insurance company’ the answer?”
When looking at past instances, officials say many of these car crimes have involved young people.
Recently, Monroe County created the Juvenile Enhanced Diversion Stabilization program that involves county probation officers intervening in the lives of young people accused of crimes.
“Now we’re trying to seek that family out and to seek that kid out to provide them services to get them away from that criminal activity,” Bello said. “Because frequently there’s underlying reasons as to why that kid is out there at 3 in the morning stealing a Hyundai.”
But residents are still frustrated.
“There’s no repercussions,” Defazio said. “So it’s just we’re all stuck with the cleanup and the damage and left here.”
“Everybody’s fed up,” Rendazzo said. “Everybody’s fed up with the crime. All I can do is hope for the best. That’s really it. There’s nothing I can do. It’s out of my control."