Car thefts at Atlanta airport decline amid enforcement swell
Police say car thefts decrease at Atlanta airport
Auto thefts at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are down almost 50%, according to the Atlanta Police Department. Enforcement is up and so are arrests.
ATLANTA - Auto thefts at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are down almost 50%, according to the Atlanta Police Department. Enforcement is up and so are arrests.
Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum told the Public Safety Committee on Monday that the numbers have significantly improved.
The backstory:
Auto thefts at the airport jumped to 330 back in 2024. Over the first quarter of this year, 17 cars have been stolen.
The chief says an organized ring of thieves targets high-end cars and uses programmers that create fake keys to crank up cars and drive out virtually undetected. There is no broken glass or alarms detected.
What they're saying:
"As you can see, that has had a significant drop in vehicle thefts across the city. You see that year-to-date, we have a 26% reduction in auto thefts in Atlanta. That’s going on top of last year's reduction. And then the airport has almost a 50% reduction as we've targeted individuals stealing vehicles," Chief Darin Schierbaum of Atlanta Police reported.
The chief says the trend of targeting high-end parked vehicles continues, but they have made significant headway.
One of those suspects, Sharell Denise Reed, is accused of stealing 10 high-end cars from the airport lots.
"Sharell Reed, who we have alleged stole cars from our airport on August 18 of last year, September 20th of last year, two cars on October 12th of last year, and another vehicle in October. Those were Cadillac Escalades as well as Corvettes that were being stolen," the chief said.
By the numbers:
The veteran lawman says organized groups target the airport with programmers, create fake keys and drive right off with no broken glass, being undetected. There were some 335 thefts in 2024, but just 17 have been stolen in the first quarter of 2026.
"We redeployed additional resources to the airport, assigned investigators from Public Safety Headquarters to that initiative, and also worked with the Department of Aviation," Chief Schierbaum explained.
The chief says his department has arrested 28 suspects for auto thefts this year, and has warrants secured for 15 more.
The Source: The details in this article come from APD Chief Darin Schierbaum’s crime stat presentation during Monday’s Public Safety Committee and talked to members of the APD.