meanwhile drivers in the state have been alerted to the upticks in car thefts and while progress has been made on that front organized crime rings are still getting away with swiping cars from the streets and shipping them overseas right through the port of Newark as Ted Goldberg reports federal and state leaders are now working together to crack down in 2022 here in Jersey there are more than 15 thousand Vehicles reported stolen an increase compared to the same time in 2021 20 percent increase year over year if your car is stolen in New Jersey investigators say there's a good chance it passes through one of the state's ports and leaves the country but Congressman Josh godheimer says law enforcement in New Jersey is working to turn the tide he visited Port Newark today and learned about the progress made towards stopping people who steal cars thanks to dhs's work thanks to the state's work the numbers are coming down we're down about 20 percent you over here are more of 23 the bad news is the numbers are still unacceptably high law enforcement leaders local state county and federal uh uh convened today to discuss this plaguing problem with auto theft uh it's a multi-pronged attack local law enforcement trying to stop the acts from actually occurring and to educate our our residents Tenafly police chief Robert Chamberlain says education is a big part of preventing car theft and that people who don't keep their cars locked are more likely to lose them it's a lucrative business and we make it very easy for them they're going to keep coming back and keep shopping Congressman godheimer says fewer cars have been stolen because law enforcement agencies have gotten better at coordinating with each other and sharing information it's very difficult in many cases to detect all the vehicles with Intel they're doing a much better job of cracking down on where the vehicles before they get sent overseas but it's hard it's like a needle in a haystack godheimer highlighted a major bust last month at Port Newark where 23 stolen vehicles were recovered before being shipped to Africa he said creative criminals were stopped because agencies did a good job of working together when agents open the containers they found the vehicles were hidden behind mattresses and stacked on top of one another the Coast Guard U.S Department of Commerce New Jersey State Police NYPD the Hudson County Sheriff's Office the Port Authority police and National Insurance crime Bureau to make a 1.3 million dollar bust this just shows when you coordinated all levels what can be done godheimer says Kia and Hyundai can help the cause if they issue a recall for certain models made over the last eight years after someone learned how to hotwire some of their recent cars with a screwdriver and shared it on Tick Tock thefts of both cars have jumped in New Jersey there's been a 19 increase in stolen Kias and Hyundais from the first six months of last year to the final six months and if you compare last Jan January and February to this January and February there's an 82 percent Spike we know there's a hole and they should they should fill it right I mean you got a problem here we know law enforcement is flagged it as a problem we know where the problems are we should actually try to get ahead of it instead of making it easier for thieves Kian Hyundai have offered free software patches that you have to get at dealerships in the meantime godheimer says the Department of Homeland Security still has work to do they'll focus on people who manage car theft Rings not individual people who steal cars until we caught off the head of the snake internationally the demand will well the demand will be there and they'll find more people on the ground to provide the supply we've got to get to actually the ring leaders that's done by DHS internationally with FBI and others in the intelligence community at Port Newark I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news [Music] thank you