What's driving Rochester's Kia Boys? Is climate change an influencer

EDITOR'S NOTE: This "City on Fire" episode transcript contains language that some may find offensive. Reader discretion is advised.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

In 2021, videos of teenagers quickly stealing Kia and Hyundai model cars using a specific method went viral.

The trend took off nationwide. If you type in "Kia Boys" on Google, Rochester is on the suggested search list.

By the halfway mark of 2023, the city had doubled the number of car thefts from the previous year. 75% of those vehicles are Kia and Hyundai. According to the car companies, they believe the security flaw impacts over 8.3 million vehicles nationwide.

Teenagers are still in the cars and joyriding, driving recklessly at extremely high speeds. A recent sampling of Rochester Police radio transmissions show that illegal activity involving vehicles sometimes dominates law enforcement airwaves.

Rochester Police, radio channel:

Section 2-91, there is an accident with the gray ... SUV at Lyell. The male occupant got out, which headed towards Sherman, and that he had a gun...

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

I stood on Jefferson Avenue in Southwest Rochester as young drivers flew up and down the strip. Bystanders talked to me about their concerns.

Bystanders:

They're going so fast, they don't have control.

This is more than I've ever seen over here — three, but never (this many). We're at eight or 10 at this point.

This is ridiculous.

Well, the police went by, and we also heard a bunch of gunshots.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

It didn't matter who I spoke with about the dangers of high heat. The topic of the Kia Boys always found its way into the conversation.

Brian Boose, teenager:

I'm like, yo, Mike, bro, I can't do this no more. I had my dad's car for a day and a half and I've been hit by the little Kia b-----ds.

Moses Robinson, Rochester Police Department:

I don't like saying Kia Boys. Kids just don't pop up one morning and start saying, "You know what? I'm going to steal cars."

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

19-year-old Brian Boose feared what the summer (of 2023 would) bring.

Brian Boose, teenager:

This is about to be the hottest summer in the last couple of years because, first off, these little n----- is literally jumping in the cars and just joyriding. Still, to this day. They've been going on since January. Clearly. Can't nobody stop them. Somebody is going to get mad and try to stop them.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

This is City on Fire, the USA TODAY Network podcast on the effect rising temperatures have on public safety. I'm Rob Bell, a reporter for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. This is Episode 3, "The Kia Boys." In Episode 1, we discussed how rising temperatures lead to a rise in violence. So much so that some of Rochester's youth don't feel safe at public pools and rec centers. School is out; poverty is spreading. Social media has a chokehold. Everyone has their reasons for the Kia Boy phenomenon.

Hannah Gilmore believes you can't blame all the parents.

Hannah Gilmore, senior citizen:

Some of these kids come from very good homes, very good homes. Their parents take care of 'em. They dress them, they feed them, but then they get with other kids and looking at what they do, and they want to be a follower.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

Violence intervention specialist Anthony Hall has a slightly different opinion.

Anthony Hall:

The level of accountability for young people is at an all-time low, right? But the level of accountability for adults is gone. Adults don't want to be held accountable for nothing. If my kid is messing up, I'm accountable for that, right? And I know that families are struggling.

Hannah Gilmore, senior citizen:  

Most kids, they follow each other. Kids draw kids. So these young kids now see the older guys stealing cars, and they want to do it too, but sooner or later, I can assure you, somebody going to start killing them.

Anthony Hall, violence intervention specialist:

But when I say accountable for my kid or others around me, that means that I should be speaking up.

Hannah Gilmore, senior citizen:  

They say they want to hold parents responsible, but you know what, some parents do all they can do for these kids. Sometimes their parents are asleep. Them kids jump up and go out the window and stuff and do these kinds of things. Girls and boys.

Me, I'm a light sleeper. I would catch you. Soon as you put your feet in one, I'd grab your other part and tear you up.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

Summertime used to be simple for Anthony Hall.

Anthony Hall, violence intervention specialist:

It's an exciting time. The smell in the air. Gearing up to go to Sea Breeze. Family barbecues. Kids playing manhunt. Summer camp. When we grew up, it was a different time.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

So what's different about today's generation?

Anthony Hall, violence intervention specialist:

Social media.

Technology plays a huge part in that. You don't have to be somewhere per se to experience something, instead of wanting to be out enjoying the weather in the summertime. That's why it's important during the summertime; I've always stressed, particularly for young people, that we have to have more activity and to engage them differently.

Even as I stated earlier about, when I grew up, we did summer camps, and we went fishing, we swam. There was always something for us to do. Even if we made something up. On the weekends, we got up, and we might've built a clubhouse or built a little car or just got up and rode bikes.

Young people today, because of social media and technology, they're either on the game or on Instagram, Clubhouse, something like that to set something up, to do something, and sometimes to set something up to do something — it's not on a positive level.

Brian Boose, teenager:

Before, at least we could understand, okay, maybe that kid out there serving the fiends because he want to eat. You see what I'm saying? He need money. They're not getting no money from it. So what are they doing it for?

I haven't even heard one of 'em sell a car yet. You know how you'll hear about stuff like that? I haven't heard about a single piece of any of that. They just crashing them, and then you see people driving around with their wrecked cars. Right?

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

In a July 2023 article, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reporter Gary Craig writes: "As summer continues, so do the crimes at a staggering rate. There are nearly daily reports of thefts that end with property damage but could have been far more dangerous, unlike other crimes that rose nationwide during the pandemic, such as shootings and homicides. Rochester and Monroe County are largely outliers with its recent rate of vehicle thefts."

Brian Boose, teenager:

I don't know what the goal is, but it's a clout thing. I caught on. It is more clout-based because it's not survival-based; they don't care if they get paid for the cars or not. They crashing them and then jumping out. They're not getting nothing from it. They're just doing it for attention 9 times out of 10. That's what I'm starting to think.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

And they are getting a lot of attention. That's why Anthony Hall doesn't like to use the term Kia Boys.

Anthony Hall, violence intervention specialist:         

Because it puts a spin on something that glorifies their behavior.

It's no different when you talk about gangs, and we dealt with gangs for a long time, and when you begin to publicize it more, it appeals more to individuals who are into the behavior or rattle the fence. And then, particularly now, because we have everything at our fingertips, it's polarizing, and it's a national trend, right? It's not just Rochester, these Kia kids, and Kia Boys. It's a national trend, right? And media, because of the dollars, it gives you something to sell, right?

If it bleeds, it leads.

So media plays it back and back, forth and forth.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

Officer Moses Robinson believes the media coverage of the Kia Boys has a negative impact.

Moses Robinson, Rochester Police Department:

An image that is presented in media that these kids are urban kids. They're violent, they're social predators, they're this, they're that. And so it sends a message, but in most cases, to overall good kids, including my family members, and grandsons, it sends a negative image as well.

Anthony Hall, violence intervention specialist:

This is a subset. This is a small group of individuals that's under 300, 200 people that's engaged in that. I mean across the county.

Don't get it twisted like it's only in Rochester, it's only melanated Black and brown boys. It's not. I was watching the news earlier at the breakfast diner, all they reporting was about stolen cars and Kia Boys for the first 15 minutes, and there's other stuff going on in the community.

Moses Robinson, Rochester Police Department:

So they focus on the bad kids. We want to illuminate them (the good kids) for the good work that they're doing in our community.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

Anthony Hall often asks teenagers their motivation behind stealing a car.

Anthony Hall, violence intervention specialist:

When you get with 'em, you talk to 'em — "there ain't nothing for us to do, can't go nowhere."

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

Hall also understands what the trend does to the everyday person.

Anthony Hall, violence intervention specialist:

The insurance goes up, folks' cars are being impounded, towed from the scene, then impounded for a couple of days, and they have to come up with money to get it out of the pound.

What I find is these cars are being stolen, and folks peeking out their window, they hear the glass. They don't call the police. They're not saying nothing. Even when the kids are riding in the street or at the gas station with a stolen car getting gas, you want to record and say, here go the Kia Boys. Instead of saying, get out that stolen car or take a picture of the license plate and call the police. And we have this notion that if I say something, I'm a snitch or I'm a rat. It's impossible, right? Because if you're not in the car with 'em and yet you get, and you tell everybody, no, you're a human being, you're a citizen, you law-abiding, right?

That motto of village has to be restored. "I know you too young to drive. What you doing driving? Come here. All of y'all get out the car. Take that mask off." You got to engage just like that. If you don't have enough strength or you don't want to deal with other people's kids, like I said, you ain't no rat if you call the police. "Hey man, there's a stolen Kia. Here's the license plate number."

Law enforcement in our community particularly has said that they're short-staffed. They're short-manned and all this type of stuff. Well, listen, man, in my opinion, I don't believe short staffed is an excuse because you signed up for a job, and you need to do it. These things are quality-of-life issues. We have to strategize around that.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

Officer Moses Robinson...

Moses Robinson, Rochester Police Department:

These are our kids, as bad as they are and whatever the heck they're doing, and there's a certain amount of kids getting a lot of attention right now, and they're getting a lot of attention. We have to be diligent in identifying the kids who are struggling and doing things. Because I always believe these kids that are doing these things, they're doing to get attention, and they're getting it.

And at the same time, those kids who want to belong to something, we have to offer them opportunities that are positive to engage them in the right things to do. A lot of times, negative behavior is sending the message that I'm not connected to the community, I'm disconnected to the community. What is it that the mother needs? What is it that the father needs or the family needs? What are those needs? Rather than us telling them, this is what we can do for you, we need to really ask them, what do you need from us?

Anthony Hall, violence intervention specialist:

But this particular incident with car theft and this demographic, I want to target these guys. How do we target 'em? How are we going to get 'em? Well, I know folks like gaming trucks, laser tag, and food. All we need is the space. Get the space. You do word of mouth. We have some flyers, whatever. And then some of us that were in this collaborative partnership, some of these guys and girls were already a part of our caseload. We brung them, and they told folks, so they came, and we had resources that can connect them right on the spot to services, and that's what it's about. And they came, and then some folks right on the spot got hired for a job. You know what I mean?

Brian Boose, teenager:

I was at a barbershop earlier, sitting outside, waiting for my barber to come back. He went to go make his stop before he came back to finish my hair. Little n---- walking through talking to his homeboy said, "Yeah, I done took at least 300 cars already." This is an individual. I'm just like, yo, oh my God.

I'm dropping my auntie off. See 'em swerving around Tremont, two cars deep going 80. I'm like, oh my God. I put that b---- in reverse. I'm going 60 backward, hit the front of the car, and still hit the side on the way off. I'm just sitting there in disbelief. They laughing. Swear to God, all the girls in the car, one of them smacked their head in the window. They all in the car laughing. I'm just like my girlfriend and my aunt ready to get out the car and go fight. I'm like, yo, bro, you know I got to get this car fixed, right? From my perspective, I ain't even going to lie with the carjackings and all that ... they're not going to be done until these little n----- start getting popped. I'm going to be real.

Moses Robinson, Rochester Police Department:

Back in the day of Philly, folks used to carry knives because there weren't that many guns, and people would just knuckle up because that's what you had. In today's society, what's happening now because there's so many guns that are out there, and the availability of it; it's changed everything.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

On June 7, three teenagers — age 17, 14, and 13 — were shot in southwest Rochester following an argument after a car crash.

Brian Boose, teenager:

I know you heard about what happened to (name). Yeah. Hit somebody's car laughing, riding through. He started throwing shots. I heard Facebook said one of 'em was a girl. You see what I'm saying? Imagine coming home from work. Your daughter just got shot and a stolen car. She in handcuffs at the hospital. What the f--- is you talking about? Nobody should have to come home to hear that s---, but that's the type of s--- that's going on right now. Just hearing it out loud.

That ain't nothing I've never heard before, so I already know. It's a whole new wave for s--- coming.

Rob Bell, Democrat and Chronicle reporter:

• By the end of April 2023, 1,063 vehicles were stolen in Rochester.

• 75% of those vehicles are Kia and Hyundai.

• When the warmer weather arrived in May, that number ballooned to 2,945 stolen cars by Aug. 18, a 177% increase in the summer.

This "City on Fire" podcast is part of the USA TODAY Network-Northeast human-centered climate crisis project called Perilous Course, directed by New York State Enterprise Editor William Ramsey. This podcast was produced by me, Rob Bell, a reporter for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and USA TODAY Network-Northeast Regional Multimedia Director Sean Oates.

Special thanks to Moses Robinson, Cameron Mixon, Brian Boose, Anthony Hall, Hannah Gilmore, and Kayla Canne from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, whose reporting was featured in this episode.

The Democrat & Chronicle has been investigating the effects of a rapidly heating planet on people who live in our city. Follow along with "City on Fire" as we report the struggle with summer temperatures caused by climate crisis. This is part of the USA TODAY project Perilous Course. Contact D&C journalist Rob Bell at rlbell@gannett.com to be included in a story if you have been affected by climate crisis or heat or William Ramsey for general climate impact.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Kia Boys Rochester ny: Is climate change an influencer in car thefts