Canada's Car-Theft Epidemic

"The rise [in runaway numbers of vehicle thefts across Canada] over the last years has been alarming." 

"Organized crime is becoming more brazen, and the overseas market for the stolen cars is expanding."

"Cracking down on auto theft means bringing law enforcement, border services, port authorities, carmakers and insurance companies together."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

 

"[Criminal penalties typically handed down for car theft aren't strong enough]. It's highly profitable and there's very low risk."

"Only in Ontario, we saw 68 per cent of those convicted serve a sentence of six months or less. We need to see stiffer penalties. We absolutely need to have a deterrence for these crimes."

"This is a very complex criminal market facilitated by criminal organizations."

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique 

"Organized crime for sure, but there's different roles within organized crime. For example, the kids — and for the most part they are young people that are involved in the theft  — I think we have to be in proportion on that."

"You know ... we're not in a position to be locking up 18-year-olds for extended periods of time when they may not even realize what part of the pecking order they're in there. I think we want to try to get up the pecking order a little bit and not just hammer away at the youth that are involved."

Danny Smyth, president, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police

 

"Right now you have provisions that are set out in the Code that deal with the offences of theft and you have offences that deal with organized criminality. It's sort of bridging the two. It's looking at the specific focus of carjacking, which is unfortunately a new phenomenon here in Canada, but it is something that we need to address."

"It takes an individual to steal the car but it takes a complete criminal operation to get it out of the country for sales in parts of Africa or the Middle East. When we look at organized criminality, we have to look at those chains and how to disrupt them."

Federal Minister of Justice Arif Virani

Political leaders, law enforcement and industry players met in Ottawa to discuss the spiralling scourge of auto theft in Canada, but concrete solutions were scarce.

The first voice, that of Canada's prime minister deploring the huge and growing number of car thefts is that of a leader who found it politically expedient to reverse the initiatives taken by the predecessor Conservative-led government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to boost criminal law enforcement by doing away with minimum sentencing. Instead, Justin Trudeau brought to bear what law enforcement agencies now refer to as 'catch-and-release' laws. And the public is paying the price for that relaxed law enforcement.

 

New vehicles come equipped with keyless entries making them easier to steal. High-tech devices are capable of overriding any safety features, making cars vulnerable to theft. The illicit trade revels in their ability to easily use devices enabling theft. Little wonder that organized crime groups are invested in auto theft; the sheer scale of numbers, with an estimated 90,000 cars stolen annually, results in about $1 billion in costs to taxpayers and Canadian insurance policyholders.

Most of the stolen autos end up in Africa and the Middle East. The further the automobiles are taken to be sold, from the geography where they're stolen, the greater the profit for the organized crime groups. Shipping containers that at one time underwent interdiction with special border agents inspecting cargoes to ensure no illicit cargoes ship out of major ports like Vancouver, are no longer inspected. The special groups responsible for inspection were disbanded years ago, leaving illegal shipments of goods like stolen cars free rein for export.

 

The commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police revealed that spotters identify vehicles and their locations, rewarded by up to $100; the exporters themselves again up to $80,000 -- where the resale value of a prized model stolen car can double in resale value overseas.  The spotters and those engaged in the actual thefts are usually young boys in their teens who become skilled at car theft. They deliver the goods to their handlers in organized crime and the network of delivery, outward shipment and resale booms.

The issue of prevention and deterrence is hooked on young offenders who are arrested and then released; with incentives to go right back to the car theft operations they have become skilled at, and depend on to fund their addiction habits. Penalties are elusive; sharp and short; mandatory minimum sentences do nothing to reduce crime. Those who are out on bail and even those on house arrest, simply go back out again and repeat the offences for which they earn few penalties.

"We want to stop the revolving door of people coming back out on our streets and doing it again."

"We want to have them locked up, we want to have them in jail."

Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner

Security at Canada's ports has come under close scrutiny in a situation where stolen cars from Canada and the U.S. are being acquired by overseas terrorists. One car is stolen every three minutes in Canada, representing tens of millions of dollars in stolen cars shipped overseas yearly. "You've got twenty to thirty-thousand higher-end stolen vehicles leaving Canada every year and they are worth $50,000 each", said Richard Dubin, vice-president of investigative services of the Insurance Bureau of Canada,

Canada Border Services Agency Superintendent Jean-Francois Rainville removes a mattress used to hide a stolen Toyota Sequoia in a container. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)