Unmarked NYPD car has its tires ripped off and interior ransacked after being stolen then found three days later

An unmarked New York Police Department vehicle was stripped of its tires and left on cinder blocks in the South Bronx after being stolen three days earlier. 

The Ford Taurus, part of the Bronx Special Victims Unit, had last been seen parked outside of a local grocery store at East 167 and Fox Streets on Tuesday.

Detectives were 'pinged' the vehicle's location on Friday, and found the scrapped vehicle outside of a laundromat near the Bronx River, the New York Post reports. 

The Ford Taurus, part of the Bronx Special Victims Unit, had last been seen parked outside of a local grocery store at East 167 and Fox Streets on Tuesday

Photos show the condition the Taurus was left in, with the car's fender and tires missing and it sitting on the cinder blocks. 

The seats had been removed and most of the inside had been destroyed. The steering wheel has been left behind, however. 

According to a law enforcement source familiar with the incident, the car has been flat-bedded and is at the Eerie Basin Tow Pound.   

Detectives were 'pinged' the vehicle's location on Friday, and found the scrapped vehicle outside of a laundromat near the Bronx River

Authorities are investigating the theft of the vehicle. 

New York, like other big cities, saw an increase in homicides and shootings in 2020 as a result of the pandemic and accrued stress from it. There were 447 homicides in 2020, the highest number since 2011, but still remarkably lower than numbers seen in the 80s and 90s.

The New York Times reports officials believe that the trend of low homicides and crime would have continued had it not been for the pandemic. 

And while there has been a surge in violent crimes, the number of cases being solved by police has decreased. According to NYPD records, officers solved 26.3 per cent of the serious crimes in the second quarter. In 2019, they had solved 35.8 per cent.