ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The St. Louis County Police Department has its own version of the Kia Boyz – on the right side of the law.
Their names are Officers Andrew Jones and Justin Keim. They were honored Wednesday during the St. Louis County Board of Police Commissioners meeting for finding nearly 200 stolen Hyundais and Kias and returning them to their rightful owners in 2022.
That year, close to 3,000 Hyundais and Kias were reported stolen from driveways and streets in unincorporated St. Louis County.
Keim, who works a day shift, found 76 of them – valued at about $787,000.
Jones, who works the night shift, found 101 – valued at $1.46 million.
For Jones, the mission is personal.
“It hurts me to see these people suffer and have their property that they've worked very hard for and that they put a lot of their money towards that they may not have otherwise … to just have it taken from them by somebody,” Jones said. “Being able to get that property back to them is just very rewarding for me.”
Jones said he found the stolen cars pretty much everywhere – stashed behind vacant houses, parked on streets and even driving around.
“It was very much a just game of hide and seek, essentially,” Jones said.
When he tried to pull over the stolen vehicles, sometimes they sped away and he did not pursue them because it is a property crime. Other times, he said the drivers and passengers would jump out and run. And other times, they would claim they bought the car from someone else and had no idea it was stolen.
That said, Jones and Keim were still able to get search warrants and build investigations.
Keim made three felony arrests and four misdemeanor arrests, which resulted in one felony charge and two misdemeanor charges. Three felony charges and one misdemeanor charge are still pending.
Jones executed three search warrants and arrested seven suspects. He got five felony warrants and four misdemeanor warrants issued. Three felony warrants and one misdemeanor warrant are still pending.
Jones says he’s happy that “business is getting slower” this year. He’s only found about 50 stolen Hyundais and Kias cars so far.
Department statistics show fewer Hyundais and Kias were stolen during June and July compared to the same months in 2022 – but year-to-date totals show more have been stolen overall this year compared to 2022.
The reason they’re so easy to steal is that millions of make and models were built during the past decade without anti-theft technology known as engine immobilizers – technology that doesn’t let a car start without a computer chip in the key.
Federal Motor Vehicle Standards do not require immobilizers to be installed on vehicles, so the theft explosion only affected cars in the United States.
Thieves – mostly juveniles – took to social media, calling themselves the Kia Boyz, demonstrating how easy it is to steal cars using nothing more than a USB cord in the ignition.
Hyundai and Kia announced earlier this year that the companies were rolling out free anti-theft software upgrades.
Jones said until the software upgrades become more widespread and known among the thieves, Hyundai and Kia owners should still use steering wheel locks like The Club as a deterrent.
Jones said he never found a stolen car with a Club properly attached – but he did find some with Clubs lying in the back seat or hanging from wheels because owners forgot to use them or properly attach them.
“It's a matter of being vigilant,” Jones said. “And even if you think that you're not going to need it, or somebody is not going to steal it while you're just in the store for a minute, being vigilant is probably the best practice when trying to address this.”
And if you don’t, the St. Louis County Police Kia Boyz will be on the lookout for your car.