Five months later, the thieves returned in the middle of the night for her other vehicle, a Lexus RX 450, but this time they were not so lucky. After the first theft in February, Lee installed a video camera that captured footage of three people trying to break into the car. “It’s really scary because it was so close,” Lee told CBC News. “Who knows what could have happened… if I had woken up in the middle of the night and seen them and then approached them?” The video appears to show one person trying to break the door handle while two others place some sort of towel over the front headlights. Within minutes, Li says, the vehicle’s alarm linked to the engine immobilizer went off. The video shows the three running as the lights on the car begin to flash. “I personally feel that nothing has been done about it because so many cars are stolen,” Lee said. Cars are parked on the street near Lawrence Avenue and Dufferin Street, a Toronto neighborhood that has seen an increase in car thefts. Many vehicles in the area are removed from driveways to residential streets. (CBC) Lee is one of thousands of Torontonians affected by a dramatic increase in car thefts this year. As of September 26, 6,497 thefts have been reported to Toronto police. Compared to the 2021 total, which saw 4,498 reports, that’s nearly a 45 percent increase with three months of the year remaining. Car thefts, which are counted separately and investigated by a different team, rose by 209%, rising from 58 to 179. CBC News investigates why a growing number of Torontonians are falling victim to theft and what community groups, politicians and police are trying to do to stem the rising tide of crime. WATCHES | Toronto area faces rash of carjackings:
Police are investigating a rash of car thefts in the Toronto area
Toronto-area police are investigating a series of car thefts, suggesting thieves have exported stolen cars to foreign countries where they are sold for a lucrative profit.
Offer and demand
Toronto isn’t alone — data collected by CBC News shows that as of Aug. 31, car thefts in the neighboring Peel region are up 54 percent compared to the same period last year. In Ottawa, thefts are already up nearly 27 percent this year compared to last year, while Montreal is on track to surpass that number by 2021. “It’s shocking. It’s a very, very large number,” said Det. Sgt. Peter Wehby said of Toronto’s rise. He is with the newly formed Organized Crime Investigative Support Team, which tackles what it calls complex investigations by liaising with different police departments and with teams in other regions, cities and even countries. “I don’t think anything has changed in terms of the demand for the vehicles. I think what has changed is the supply,” he said. In 2020 and 2021, Wehby said, there were far fewer newer vehicles available because of supply chain issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of those orders came this year, flooding the market with more vehicles. “From what I understand, there were hundreds and hundreds of orders that came in that couldn’t be delivered. So it’s just a case of higher bid, which makes more available for these things,” Wehby said. He said while some cars are stolen for the purpose of committing another crime and others for domestic resale, that is not what is behind the majority of thefts. “Where cars are stolen for export, that’s where I think the biggest profit is,” he said. Toronto police Sgt. Peter Wehby is in charge of the newly formed Organized Crime Investigation Support Team, which investigates car thefts in the city. He tackles complex investigations by liaising with different police departments and teams in other regions, cities and even countries. (Grant Linton/CBC) “If your car is stolen … if it’s one of the desirable vehicles that’s stolen, there’s a very good chance these criminals will try to get it out of the country and overseas as quickly as possible.” Based on police data in Toronto alone, an average of one car has been stolen every hour of the day so far this year. The total value of these cars is hundreds of millions of dollars.
Desired vehicles
It’s not just luxury vehicles that are being targeted in cities like Toronto. That’s a lesson Sarah learned the hard way after her vehicle was stolen recently. She asked CBC News not to use her last name because she’s worried she’ll be targeted again. On Sept. 24, her husband noticed that the 2021 Honda CR-V they were leasing had been stolen from the driveway next to their home in northwest Toronto. “We were quite surprised. I mean, you usually think of cars that are stolen as luxury cars – Mercedes and Lexus and those types of cars. And you don’t think of a Honda CR-V as a desirable car to steal,” Sarah told CBC News. But he said he learned more when he contacted police. Sarah’s Honda CR-V was stolen from her driveway in Toronto on September 24th. In addition to the vehicle being stolen, she lost her children’s car seats, a stroller and a basketball. (Keith Whelan/CBC) “We filed a report and a police officer came to the house later that day and informed us that we were one of six CR-Vs taken in the last two days,” she said, adding that police told her it was just in her neighborhood. Sarah’s insurance covers the theft, but she lost everything in her car: her child’s car seats, a stroller, and a basketball — the latter two not covered by her insurance. Agencies investigating car theft say many vehicles are targeted based on demand in other countries. “Organized crime groups — professional criminals — are targeting specific vehicles because of the demand for them. So you’re going to see a variety of makes and models, manufacturers being targeted,” said Bryan Gast, vice president of investigative services at Équité Association, which researches and analyzes the insurance fraud and crime. A 2021 Honda CR-V similar to the vehicle stolen from Sarah’s driveway. When she contacted Toronto police, she says she was told her vehicle was the sixth CR-V targeted in the neighborhood in the past two days. (YouTube/Drivers only) He said not only do higher car theft rates contribute to higher insurance premiums in general, but there’s also the issue of who profits from the sale of stolen vehicles. “What I would find even more troubling is the fact that … these thefts are funding these organized crime groups,” Gast said.
Disappointments are mounting
The issue of car theft has become so pervasive that some neighborhood groups are working to collect and share data themselves and spread awareness in their communities to help protect each other. “We do the neighborhood watch program … to try to communicate prevention techniques, but there’s only so much people can do — and that’s really the problem,” said Pam Main, of the Upper Avenue Community Association in Toronto’s North York neighborhood. Main said members of the group have seen car thefts increase significantly since 2019, and along with a neighboring group — the South Armor Heights Residents Association — have been pushing for more police resources to deal with the issue. Jim Sadler, left, is a member of the South Armor Heights Residents’ Association, while Pam Main is a member of the Upper Avenue Community. Both groups collect and share data on the increasing number of car thefts in their community. (Chris Mulligan/CBC) Prior to the establishment of the Organized Crime Investigation Support Team, some police departments – including the 32 division, which covers the area and the two neighborhood teams – had their own teams dedicated to dealing with car thefts in these areas. However, these staff have since been redeployed to support the Organized Crime Investigation Support Team, which now leads all complex car theft investigations across the police service. Main said they hope the new squad, which is also responsible for other crimes such as kidnapping and kidnapping, will prioritize car theft. “Hopefully with this new team, we’ll see some results,” he said. Det. Sgt. Wehby said the team prioritizes car thefts, adding that there is a special team of investigators tasked with dealing with it. “Around the clock, we have investigators working aggressively to stop this problem,” he said.
Government support
Given how multi-ethnic the problem is, some local politicians say more support is needed from both the province and the federal government. “This is not just local crime; this is multibillion-dollar international organized crime where cars go to the ports of Montreal, Halifax,” said Mike Cole, a Toronto councilor who introduced a proposal last December — which passed — calling the Ontario government to create a special team to combat the increase in car theft. Toronto councilor Mike Colle is calling for more support from the provincial and federal governments to help combat the rise in car theft. (Farrah Merali/CBC) No provincial task force has been formed, but in a statement to CBC News, Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General said it is already working with the federal government on the issue, investing $203 million to fight gun and gang crime, which it says is linked in many car thefts. It also promoted money earmarked for police agencies to buy technology to track stolen vehicles. A spokesman for federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told CBC News the department is working to bring together all levels of government and law enforcement to create a task force to address this “alarming” issue. “The increase in car thefts in the Greater Toronto Area is deeply troubling,”…
