Sheriff Launches 'Carjacking-Deterrent Stickers' To Dissuade Hijackers

CHICAGO — Motorists in Cook County now have access to a new tool to deter carjackers and recover their stolen cars faster, the sheriff's office announced.

Vehicle owners can fill out an online consent form authorizing authorities to immediately start tracking their cars when someone steals them. When they do, the Cook County Sheriff's Office will mail out "carjacking-deterrent stickers," according to Sheriff Tom Dart.

"We want to give individuals the opportunity to take some ownership where they feel they're doing something," Dart said Thursday at a news conference.

The badge-shaped navy blue stickers feature a golden "T" and the labels, "Tracked Vehicle" and "Cook County Sheriff" to indicate the car is registered with the sheriff's consent-to-track program.

"We have talked to people who we've taken into custody, and trust me, they've been clear, they don't want to be dealing with cars that they know that we are tracking," Dart told reporters. "It's just how it is, and you can understand that."

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Cook County continues to lead the nation in carjackings, Dart said, although the number of carjackings in the county has slightly declined compared to last year, when the carjacking rate rose 40 percent to more than 2,000 incidents. Chicago has reportedly had more incidents of vehicular hijackings than New York and Los Angeles combined.

"That, combined with the dramatic increase in vehicle thefts, particularly Kias and Hyundais, have made it so that our city and the people in it are rightly terrified," Dart said. "You cannot really think of a crime that could be more terrifying than somebody coming up to you when you think you're in the security of your car and having a gun put on you and dragged out of your car — heaven forbid you have a child in the car."

Dart's office launched the consent forms in December of last year to speed up the process of tracking down stolen cars. While most cars manufactured in recent years include built-in tracking technology, automakers generally require authorities provide proof the owner consents to the search.

According to the sheriff's office, the average time it takes to recover stolen cars in Cook County has declined from nearly 89 hours in the first three weeks of October 2021 to just over 39 hours so far this month.

"When we track cars, we recover them quickly, and we have the ability to stop future crimes," the sheriff said.

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In an effort to get the word out about the stickers, the sheriff's office has placed signs around the jail with images of the new sticker design.

"Carjackers," the signs say, "this means we can find you."

Anytime a police agency in Cook County reports a registered car stolen in the law enforcement database system, the sheriff's office can immediately notify police across multiple jurisdictions that it is being tracked.

Anyone with a vehicle registered in Cook County is eligible for the program, although the sheriff's office recommended that people verify with the automaker whether it has built-in tracking capability.

The tracking only begins when a car has been taken illegally and its owner notifies authorities to generate a criminal complaint, according to the sheriff's office.

In the 11 months since the program began, more than 1,500 completed forms have been filed with the sheriff's office.

Car owners can now fill out the form online to sign up for the program and receive an anti-carjacking sticker in the mail.

Sheriff's office representatives recommended that motorists put one of the stickers on the rear driver's side exterior and the other on the inside of the windshield on the lower corner of the driver's side.

Dart said the anti-carjacking stickers are not the only initiative in his office aimed at rolling back the wave of hijackings.

"We have many things going on. I don't want to mislead people and say, 'Everything's going great.' — No, no, no," he said.

"But there're a lot of things that we have going on now. Both this program, working with manufacturers — we're in the process of getting a helicopter from the county, the city's getting helicopters as well — things that I know first-hand from being out with our folks at night, are game-changers," the sheriff continued.

"So there is hope, folks. We have things going now that can give us more tools, and we are very hopeful we're going to see these numbers dramatically declining in the near future,” he said. “But we have a ways to go."

Related:

• Cook County Carjackings Up 40%; Sheriff Wants Real-Time Tracking
• Suburban Carjacking Victim: 'I Thought It Would Never Happen To Me'
• Anti-Carjacking Hotline Would Be 'Game Changer,' Cook County Sheriff Says