His truck was stolen — twice. Authorities knew where it was. But it still took 17 days to get it back
CBC
It didn't take long for a tracking company to find Michael Walker's truck after it was stolen from his Toronto driveway earlier this month.
But as a tracking company employee waited hour for police to arrive, it was taken again.
Tag Tracking zeroed in on its new location, a shipping container at a rail yard about 30 kilometres away.
Police were alerted again. Border officials were also contacted. But Walker's truck continued to sit in the container.
"I'm not very happy that someone can't get off their heinie and open the container that it's supposed to be in," he told CBC News last week while waiting for authorities.
Finally on Monday, after CBC reached out to police, CN and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), authorities opened the container, revealing Walker's 2023 Toyota Tacoma inside.
It had been 17 days since Walker reported his truck as stolen.
Auto thefts in the country, particularly in Ontario, have risen to "epidemic" levels, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, resulting in a wave of measures to get it under control.
The federal government has announced a summit to take place next month to address the problem. The Ontario government is spending $18 million on prevention efforts, and has also launched a task force aimed at disrupting the "networks responsible for high-risk auto thefts."
Auto insurance companies are pushing drivers to install tracking devices on their vehicles.
"You can track them all over the place, but if you don't have the police presence to reel them in, you're wasting money," Walker said. "What's the point?"
Walker said he believes if it hadn't been for his incessant efforts in contacting the various agencies and the inquiries made last week by CBC, his truck would still be sitting in an unopened container.
He wants to see more officers and more funding dedicated to the agencies involved in combating auto theft in the country.
"We're dealing with a system and it's failing," he said.
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