Minneapolis logged 1,054 reported vehicle thefts in January and February 2026, a roughly 35% jump over the same two months in 2025, according to Fox News’s reporting on Minneapolis Police Department data. Department officials have pointed to two internal factors driving the spike: chronic understaffing and a standing policy against chasing stolen vehicles.
The numbers break down unevenly across theft methods. Thefts of non-Kia and non-Hyundai vehicles taken without keys jumped 59% year over year, while ignition-tampering thefts of Kia and Hyundai models — the vulnerability at the center of a wave of thefts nationally since 2023 — rose 25%, climbing to 313 cases from 251. Thefts where owners left keys inside their vehicles were up 18%, to 291 cases from 247…