For 2021, the Houston Police Department reported 720 incidents. During the span of January to November 2022, the department noted 812.
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Police say jugging is a term that means someone followed an unsuspected victim to their home to rob them.
HPD Sgt. Tracy Hicks, with the Houston Police Auto Theft Task Force, said they see it happen mostly at banks, gun stores, high-end restaurants, and shopping malls.
"Best case scenario, they watch you leave it in your car, they break in and steal it and they're gone," Hicks said. "Worst case scenario is it turns into a robbery."
A jugging turns into a robbery when there is human interaction, according to police.
ABC13 has covered cases where people have been followed long distances or for long periods of time to their homes or followed to a restaurant or the airport.
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"Organized crime is what it is," Hicks said. "There's always two, three, four, five people, and they work as a team. Some people are scouters. Some are the ones following them off."
He believes the numbers may be higher than reported because people whose cars were broken into do not always realize they were being followed. He said they are training their cadets to ask victims where they had been before to the crime occurred.
"That information lets us know where these juggers are camping out to follow people off and we can put resources in those areas and hopefully shut this stuff off," Hicks said.
He said that they have seen a significant decrease in the number of catalytic converter thefts, largely in part to the decreasing price of metals found in the auto part. Sgt. Hicks believes those criminals have shifted their operation to jugging, which can be more lucrative.
Houston police have undercover officers out now as the holiday season is underway. They are staking out areas known to be hot spots and conducting sting operations, according to Hicks.
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"We've got everything you can imagine going on right now to make it so these crooks don't say, 'Oh well here's the easy money. Let's all move over here,'" Hicks explained. "We are not going to make it easy on them."
They have even reached out to businesses that are common targets and asked them to be on the lookout for the criminals.
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