Crime Wave Pushes Mom to Create 'Don't Carjack Me, Kids Inside' Magnet

While some drivers display "Baby On Board" magnets or stickers on their vehicles to alert other motorists when an infant is inside, one Louisiana mother created a "Don't Carjack Me, Kids Inside" magnet for her car in response to a recent crime wave in the state.

The magnets reflect growing concern about a spike in carjackings in Louisiana and throughout the U.S. There were 288 carjackings in the state in 2021, up 20 percent from the previous year, WDSU reported.

Gabriela Barnetzer, who lives in New Orleans with her four children, told Newsweek that she usually is the one driving her kids to and from school or to appointments and extracurricular activities. She said that a neighbor of one of her friends had recently been carjacked while her kids were inside the car, and it spurred her to start thinking about what would happen if she ended up in that situation.

"It is just super, super alarming and frightening to think about what you would do. So, my brain just started going like 'what in the world would I do if that happens to me?' Like, taking all the kids out of the car, unbuckling them and doing that as expeditiously as possible, it would be really difficult," Barnetzer said.

The "what would I do?" question made her realize that there wouldn't be much she could do in that instance, "except plead," she added.

Creating the magnets was her way of expressing her frustration with the situation, and a statement proclaiming "This is nuts. This is crazy," she said.

"I'm not a politician, so I don't have any kind of political power or influence," Barnetzer said.

Her intention in creating the magnets, which at first were limited to herself and some friends, wasn't as much to deter an actual carjacking as it was to make a statement. She didn't expect the magnets to get as much attention as they have, and she has received some mixed reactions since creating them.

"I'm actually happy that at least people are talking about it and it's bringing awareness. Hopefully, the people that are in political power or law enforcement can come up with some real solutions," Barnetzer said.

She said that people often call for more incarceration or stiffer penalties in response to a rise in crimes like carjacking, "but I don't know if that's really going to get to the root of the issue because I think that it's a lot deeper than that."

"I think that if people start noticing this and talking about it, maybe people can understand why this is happening and there could be some more drastic changes than just simply throwing people in jail," she said.

Because Barnetzer started off making the magnets for a limited number of people and didn't expect them to garner wide attention, she has mainly been fielding inquiries for them through her social media. People have also expressed interest in them on the street and at her kids' school.

She's also talking with a couple local organizations with the intention of giving them some of the proceeds from the magnets.