New Orleans car thefts drop to 20 per day, still up 107 percent over last year, MCC reports

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Auto thefts remain a major 2023 crime problem in New Orleans, even as the average number of vehicles stolen has decreased from 25 to 20 per day, the Metropolitan Crime Commission reported Monday (Sept. 18).

According to MCC statistics, there have been at least 5,291 reported auto thefts this year through Sunday. Through the same Sept. 17 date last year, 2,561 auto thefts had been reported.

That is an increase of 107 percent from last year to this year.

The actual increase could be far higher, if not for the NOPD’s notoriously slow response time to non-violent property crimes.

The MCC found that an additional 1,162 auto theft calls were marked up as GOA -- “gone on arrival” -- by responding officers. That classification indicates no police incident report was generated because the complaining witness/victim was no longer waiting on scene when police finally showed up.

That suggests that the number of auto thefts in the city this year could be 18 percent higher than the number actually counted as reported by the NOPD.

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