Videos of teenagers joyriding in stolen cars are posted to TikTok almost daily. The more dangerous the driving, the most attention and likes the videos seem to get.
Gangs of teens and young men from across the country are competing as they perform almost identical crimes, often inspired by each other.
These videos usually follow the same format.
A video starting at the back of the car, with a gloved hand covering the rear registration plate, the cameraman walking to the front of the car and zooming in to show the mangled ignition.
Mostly these thefts are not sophisticated operations; instead they use simple tools – the car thieves are pulling apart the ignitions of target car brands and hot-wiring the vehicles.
At times, the users give away too much, with young faces spotted in the cars. Sometimes their search histories reveal they were researching how to steal cars.
One of the five teenagers killed in the two-car collision on the M9 motorway near Moone, Co Kildare, in the early hours of Sunday had posted some time previously a video showing he had carried out a TikTok search with the words: “How to graft Honda Aquas.”
[ M9 crash: Minister for Justice condemns ‘outrageously dangerous criminal behaviour’ ]
The five were killed when the stolen BMW they were in collided head-on with another car after they drove the wrong way down the northbound carriageway of the M9. Three woman and a child were seriously injured in the other vehicle.
“Japanese imports” are the go-to vehicles, due to differences in regulations in Japan where EU-standard immobilisers in most cars in Ireland are not required to be fitted. Some of the most frequently stolen vehicles are the Toyota Aqua, Nissan March and Honda Fit, which are common and easy to steal. “Japanese imports” differ, though, from similar cars made in Japan specifically for the EU market.
On the TikTok video, the footage often then cuts to videos of the speedometer, with the stolen vehicle significantly exceeding the speed limit. The camera pans through the car, filled with youths who usually have their faces hidden.
Some of the more sophisticated groups have devices capable of intercepting the signal from keyless or proximity keys, a Garda source said.
These keys send signals to the car on the location of the key, thieves can use electronic devices to intercept these signals from the key fob to trick the car into thinking the car is nearby.
This even works when the key is near the front door inside a house, a source said.
Other times they film themselves breaking the front windows of homes to grab keys hanging beside the front door, video evidence shows.
The tools being used in the thefts change from social media post to post, but the one constant is that everyone, including the driver, seems to have their mobile phones out and is recording.
Profit is not a motive in many of these thefts, the cars are usually dumped – badly damaged – after the thieves’ joyride.
The point of these videos is to gain internet “clout” – a slang term meaning fame, social influence and attention.
Those whose cars are stolen may put posts on local Facebook groups, appealing for information about their stolen cars. Screenshots of these posts are then placed at the start of photo reels in which the teens are bragging about their thefts.
While everyone is “struggling to understand” how people could take such “horrible risks” as this, cyber-psychologist Mary Aiken said the answer lay in cyber behavioural science.
“While they are engaging in this high-risk behaviour, they are generating extreme content. That content is either being live streamed or being posted on social media. They get kudos for that content and they get likes,” she said.
The videoing for social media creates a disconnect from reality for the teens.
In psychology, this is called the online disinhibition effect (ODE). Aiken said: “Effectively, they are, psychologically, not really in a real-world environment. They are lost in cyberspace, thinking about all of the upside; the likes and reposts.”
She said she was also concerned that access to violent content at a young age had distorted perceptions of consequences and that there was a lack of enforcement and policy to address the behaviour.
Aiken pointed to the rapid sharing of this extreme content being enabled on social media and the glorification it received online. These social media platforms had a “responsibility”, she said.
Garda baiting
Many videos on social media show the vehicles approaching Garda cars, slowing down to get their attention, which some commenters described as “baiting” the gardaí to chase the vehicle.
As they speed off, the Garda are faced with the choice as to whether they should chase the drivers.
Last week, a Garda source said it appeared some thieves had realised that dangerous driving practices could result in gardaí being forced to abandon chases.
Even the few gardaí who are sufficiently trained to engage in high-risk pursuits are dissuaded from doing so due to the elevated risk to the public.
The prospect of personal convictions for dangerous driving are another factor leading to some gardaí making the understandable decision not to chase.
From the perspective of frontline gardaí, John Joe O’Connell, vice-president of the Garda Representative Association, said gardaí had to make “a split-second decision” and were “kind of damned if you do, and damned if you don’t”.
He said there was a rising trend of joyriding videos being posted to social media, but gardaí did not have recognised “pursuit training”.
Many gardaí, it is understood, are on the first level of the force’s competency-based driving programme, which does not permit them to activate blue lights or their sirens.
Those behind the wheels of squad cars point to the criminal charges and trials facing some colleagues in responding to emergencies.
“What would you do?” one garda asked The Irish Times. “It’s your licence on the line, your good name.”
Gardaí point to the UK, where in 2018 new laws took into account the specialised training given to UK police when examining their driving conduct in chases.
Recently there have been re-examinations of those laws when it comes to chases of under-18s on e-scooters and e-bikes.
Seán Canney, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, said the Government was preparing legislation to protect gardaí when they are pursuing vehicles being driven dangerously.
For gardaí that cannot come soon enough.