I'm well aware of how social media can over-amplify things.  The Big Island Thieves page in particular is kind of bad at this, because you're seeing basically everything that happens on the island, where before most things didn't get reported in the paper and you didn't hear about it unless it was someone you knew.  At the same time, I find it hard to believe that car theft hasn't gone up.  There have always been lots of break-ins, but I never knew anyone who had their car stolen prior to about five years ago.  Now I know four, including both of those in this article.  

Furthermore, most of the thefts before seemed to be strip jobs.  Cars would be stolen, stripped of parts at a chop shop, and then towed out and dumped in one of the remote subdivisions.  Now, as the article says, they're being stolen just for joyrides, and being wrecked in the process.  There's no question there's a serious problem here.