Birmingham Police’s Operation Knight Rider locates stolen cars, stops secondary events

Officers made more than a dozen arrests, seized several vehicles and recovered stolen items

Street takeovers can turn deadly in an instant, and that’s one reason police in Birmingham, Alabama have created a unique operation to deal with them. Dubbed Operation Knight Rider, the task force hit the streets over several weekends in search of takeovers. Authorities have found stolen cars, stolen property and participants who are wanted for serious crimes.

Alabama’s major city has been struggling with takeovers and sideshows for more than a year. In January 2023, the department caught some flak for hitting a pedestrian with a car after the pedestrian tried to block a responding officer. This new crackdown aims to reduce the problem across the Birmingham area with consistent and somewhat close-to-the-vest tactics.

Read: Toyota Camry driver wreaks havoc by hitting multiple cars in frenzied getaway

In the first weekend of the operation, between April 12 and 14, officers arrested five people. Some were charged with receiving stolen property, attempted eluding and show driving. Police also seized seven vehicles, including two high-end Chevrolet Camaros and a stolen Dodge Charger SRT.

In the second weekend, they caught two more stolen vehicles, another Dodge Charger and another Chevy Camaro. They also arrested six other people. Weekend number three didn’t end with that many headline-grabbing figures, but perhaps the operation is already working well enough that fewer people are willing to take part.

It saw the arrest of four people, the seizure of three more cars, including two that were stolen, as well as the seizure of two firearms. One of those arrests included a person wanted for attempted murder and discharging a firearm in an occupied building. Suffice it to say that the task force is doing very valuable work at the moment.

The consistent nature of Operation Knight Rider will continue over the coming months, the department says. Other cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston could benefit from working with the Birmingham PD to learn how it is successful. For now, very little is being said about his tactics publicly so the success continues.

Images: Birmingham PD