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But no one is immune -- not even the police. A Glendale, California, police detective was leaving work one night last year when he was jumped in the police parking lot by four men, one with a shotgun. They said they wanted his car and ordered him into the trunk. The detective broke away and leaped over the railing of the police parking structure, falling one story below as the carjackers fired at him. He wasn't hit, but he suffered lacerations to his forehead in the fall. Says Randy Ballin, head of the California Highway Patrol's Los Angeles auto-theft unit, who investigated the case: "These people don't care who you are. They don't care that you are a cop and may be armed. They have nothing to lose. The criminal-justice system is not a deterrent. It's a minor inconvenience."
The thieves and the cops agree on this: the chances of going to jail for stealing a car are still very, very small. Federal laws apply only to the most violent crimes by hardened career criminals -- and local rules are deficient. Under California law, for example, first offenders typically receive probation; second offenders often get as little as 16 months and serve just half of that. Other states are rarely more severe on the mostly young first- timers. "Recently they've been putting them in a youth house for a couple of days, then they're released pending trial," says Captain Richard Fanning, commander of the Newark, New Jersey, police department's special projects target team. "They seem to get a lot of bites out of the apple before they do one single minute of incarcerated time."
While the overall arrest rate of car thieves was just 13.9% nationally in 1991, down from 14.6% in 1990, the recovery rate for the stolen cars is high. That is one reason why police officers urge victims to give up their cars without a fight; in Los Angeles County, 9 out of 10 cars are recovered within two weeks of the theft. "I like to tell people, 'Fall in love with your life, not your car. The car can be replaced.' " says Parsons of the FBI. "It's just not a smart move to go up against some 16-year-old kid with an automatic weapon. And chances are, your car is going to be recovered."
Carjackings are not the only car crimes that have exploded over the past few years. What police call smash-and-grabs are also considered easy, risk-free crimes. A swing of a baseball bat probably won't shatter a car window, but the impact of a porcelain spark plug will. "People are shocked, because they don't see a weapon. These guys don't have to use a bat. Some even carry the porcelain piece around in their mouths," says Miami's Sergeant Camil. "There you are, daydreaming about dinner. You're not expecting a brick or a spark plug through the window," says Miami Police Department spokesman Angelo Bitsis. "If you were walking on the street and somebody was following you and staring at your bag, you know to prepare yourself. But in smash-and-grabs, the window is smashed, there's a hand in your car, your purse is gone and five seconds has elapsed."