MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) is battling a wave of car break-ins and thefts inside parking garages, tied to teenage suspects.
It’s happening across the downtown Silver Spring area, where police say groups of juveniles are trying door handles and smashing windows late at night, taking whatever they can get.
“It’s annoying, and it’s frustrating for community members that cars are getting broken into,” 3rd District Commander Jason Cokinos said.
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Cokinos added that vehicle break-ins are down about 41% so far in 2026 compared to this time last year, noting a positive trend, but the crimes are still happening.
In early May, police arrested a person they believe could be behind about two dozen parking garage break-ins.
“The same person that was breaking into those cars was actually actively caught by our officers physically inside of someone’s vehicle, actively breaking into it in one of the parking garages. That person, a 17-year-old juvenile, did try to run away from the officers unsuccessfully, and he was taken into custody,” Cokinos asked.
Reporter Lianna Golden asked him how officers did it, and he said the suspect’s distinct clothing provided a clear tip.
“We had gotten really good camera footage of the individual that we later arrested that was responsible for numerous break-ins in the garages, wearing a very distinctive tracksuit at the time. So our officers were patrolling the garages and parking lots proactively and actually saw an individual in the same tracksuit breaking into vehicles.”
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Cokinos said reports of parking garage break-ins in the Silver Spring area have significantly gone down since this person’s arrest, leading them to believe they are behind most of them.
MCPD has also stepped up their patrols inside garages themselves in addition to the streets to deter these suspects from making a move.
Cokinos says the department is also working closely with the Department of Transportation to install more surveillance cameras.
Still, an ongoing issue they are seeing in Silver Spring but also across the region is the rise in car parts being stolen, which he says is an operation led by a more sophisticated crew.
It’s more organized crime, and I mean organized in the sense of these are groups of individuals. They’re highly organized. They have a system, and they’re working in a network of black market operations to sell these wheels, airbags, and catalytic converters.
He notes that most of the break-ins and thefts happening in Silver Spring aren’t committed by locals but rather “very transient people that are traversing the D.C. region.”
As the department digs for more connected crimes and arrests, they leave the public with these reminders:
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