Empowering Youth to Become Co-producers of Community Safety: Implementing a Community Response to Address an Unprecedented Increase in Kia and Hyundai Auto Thefts

• In Event: WG-PLACE 3: Understanding and Preventing Auto Thefts

Abstract

In 2021, a TikTok video commonly known as the “Kia Challenge” was launched by a youth group in the United States. This short video described how Kia and Hyundai cars manufactured between 2011 and 2021 have a design vulnerability that allows the ignition to be bypassed using a simple USB cable. As a result of this viral video, cities across the United States experienced an unprecedented increase in Kia and Hyundai auto thefts, with some cities reporting an exponential increase in incidents. 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 Newark Public Safety Collaborative (NPSC), an anchor initiative at Rutgers University-Newark, with over fifty community stakeholders. The response to the problem was to organize various focus group sessions 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

• Gaspard Tissandier, School of Criminal Justice Rutgers University-Newark