A chop shop is a business, often
mimicking a
body shop
The Body Shop International Limited, trading as the Body Shop, is a British cosmetics, skin care, and perfume company founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick, who opened her first store in Brighton, England. The company is now based in London Bridge ...
, that illicitly disassembles
stolen motor vehicles and sells
their parts. Chop shops are often linked to car-theft rings as part of a broader
organized crime
Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...
enterprise.
In the United States, the federal Motor Vehicle Theft Law Enforcement Act of 1984 and
Federal Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992, as well as
U.S. Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...
regulations issued under those acts, require automobile manufacturers to label many different auto components (with some exemptions for new automobiles with selected
anti-theft devices). A 1999 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice's
National Institute of Justice
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
NIJ, along with the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Offic ...
estimated that parts marking reduced the rate of professional car theft (with "between 33 and 158 fewer cars" being "stolen by professional thieves per 100,000 cars that were marked between 1987 and 1995"), inhibiting chop-shop operations.
See also
*
Carjacking
Carjacking is a robbery in which a motor vehicle is taken over.Michael Cherbonneau, "Carjacking," in ''Encyclopedia of Social Problems'', Vol. 1 (SAGE, 2008: ed. Vincent N. Parrillo), pp. 110-11. In contrast to car theft, carjacking is usually i ...
*
Motor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft or car theft (also known as a grand theft auto in the United States) is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle.
In 2020, there were 810,400 vehicles reported stolen in the United States, up f ...
*
Pawn shop
A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, ...
References
External links
''Criminal Resource Manual'' 1369: Chop Shops(18 U.S.C. ยง 2322)
Multi-State Chop Shop Operation Disrupted - Criminal Enterprise Leader Among Those Convicted(
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
)
Organized crime activity
Motor vehicle theft
Auto parts suppliers
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