Empowering Youth to Become Co-producers of Community Safety: Addressing Kia and Hyundai Auto Thefts

• In Event: Community-Based Programs and Interventions

Abstract

In 2021, a TikTok video commonly known as the “Kia Challenge” was launched by a youth group in the United States, which described how Kia and Hyundai cars manufactured between 2011 and 2021 have a design vulnerability that allows the ignition to be bypassed using a USB cable. As a result of this viral video, cities across the United States experienced an unprecedented increase in Kia and Hyundai auto thefts. The current study analyzes the spatio-temporal patterns associated with Kia and Hyundai auto thefts in the City of Newark. We identify hyperlocal environments, mainly residential areas near schools, as the main areas where auto thefts tend to cluster. This information was shared by the NPSC, an anchor initiative at Rutgers University-Newark, with over fifty community stakeholders. The response to the problem was to organize various Data-informed community engagement meetings with students attending schools near these hyperlocal areas. These sessions empowered youth to contextualize what community conditions were influencing this problem. It also allowed NPSC’s community partners to identify potential programs and activities to respond to this crime problem. The result was a coordinated community youth effort to reduce and prevent auto thefts in various opportunity zones across Newark.

Authors

• Alejandro Gimenez Santana, Rutgers University

• Adriana Santos, Rutgers University

• Joel Caplan, Rutgers University

• Johnathan Routis, Rutgers University

• Gaspard Tissandier, Rutgers University