Year-end statistics show crime is on the rise in Montgomery County, Maryland, including murders and carjackings, and police say stolen cars are sometimes used in… other crimes.

The Montgomery County Council Public Safety Committee was told Tuesday there were 32 homicides and 67 carjackings in 2021. The figures reflect an 88% increase in homicides and 72% increase in carjackings.

Other types of crime fell last year, including a 22% decrease in commercial burglaries and a 10% decrease in residential burglaries.

However, there is a 21% increase in vehicle theft, and identity theft is up 62%.

“Unfortunately, homicides, carjackings and car thefts, in particular, continue to increase; and unfortunately people use guns and other firearms in these types of crimes,” legislative analyst Susan Farag told the committee. “There has been a significant increase in violent crime with the use of firearms.”

Gun crimes increased by 17% in 2020 and another 27% in 2021.

Where do the weapons come from?

“The majority of firearms we remove from the streets are stolen handguns…we seized about 1,192 firearms last year,” said Deputy Police Chief Dinesh Patil, who heads the department’s Office of Investigative Services.

Police also said a growing number of so-called ghost weapons, weapons assembled at home from kits purchased online, are increasingly found at crime scenes.

Highlighting the sharp increase in carjackings, the committee asked police where hijacked vehicles in Montgomery County are typically taken.

“Where are these cars going…I would like to understand what the criminals do with these cars that they end up stealing from individuals?” asked board member Craig Rice.

Police say many of the county’s stolen cars are targeted by organized criminals.

“We’re seeing a lot of our cars ending up in Washington, DC and Prince George’s County…we’re, I’ll say for lack of better words, being attacked by crews working out of DC and other places coming in Montgomery County in a very thoughtful and planned way,” Patil said.

Police also told the panel that stolen cars in Montgomery County are regularly used in violent crimes. The committee received a graphic example of a stolen car in a burglary in Bethesda.

“We recovered a car…within a fairly short period of time from when it was stolen, and there was blood in and on the outside of the car and an AR-15 in the backseat,” Patil said.

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