January 2021 Carjackings More than Triple from January 2020 in Philly

A customer checks gas price and ready to fill up a gas tank at the Amoco gas station in Gl
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

January 2021 carjackings in Philadelphia were up more than more than triple the number during the same time in 2020.

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted there were 59 carjackings in Philly during January 2021, while there were 18 in January 2020.

Ironically, 2020 broke a record for carjackings, with a total of 404 for the year. Yet 2021 quickly got on pace to surpass the numbers seen last year.

Philadelphia Police Department Officer Tanya Little said, “Carjackings are a crime of opportunity. We can speculate and say it’s because of the pandemic, high unemployment, social unrest. … However, many people experience hard times that are not turning to violence.”

On January 29, 2021, Breitbart News reported that carjackings in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago were occurring at such a frenzied pace that Stephanie Coleman sought security teams to keep certain gas stations safe for one hour a day.

The Chicago Tribune explained that Coleman called the project, “Operation Safe Pump,” and was launching it at “Citgo on 63rd Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway, and the Shell at 55th and Halsted.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkinsa weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

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