Why Torontonians are facing a 'staggering' spike in auto thefts — and what police are doing about it
CBC
Patricia Li's year began with the theft of a Lexus NX 300 from her Toronto home — but that was just the beginning of her troubles.
Five months later, thieves returned in the middle of the night for her other vehicle, a Lexus RX 450, but this time they weren't as lucky.
After the first theft in February, Li installed a video camera that captured footage of three people attempting to break into the car.
"It's really scary because they were so close," Li told CBC News. "Who knows what could have happened ... if I had woken in the middle of the night and saw them and then I approached them?"
The footage appears to show one person trying to break open the door handle while two others place some sort of towel over the front headlights. Within minutes, Li says, the vehicle's alarm connected to the engine immobilizer went off. The video shows the three running off as the lights on the car begin to flash.
"I personally feel that nothing has been done about it because so many cars are being stolen," Li said.
Li is one of thousands of Torontonians who have been impacted by a dramatic increase in auto thefts this year. As of Sept. 26, there have been 6,497 thefts reported to Toronto police. When compared with all of 2021, which saw 4,498 reports, that's nearly a 45 per cent increase with three months of the year remaining.
Carjackings, which are counted separately and investigated by a different team, are up 209 per cent, rising from 58 to 179.
CBC News is investigating why an increasing number of Torontonians are falling victim to thefts and what community groups, politicians and police are trying to do to stem the rising wave of crimes.
Toronto isn't alone — data collected by CBC News shows that as of Aug. 31, auto thefts in neighbouring Peel Region are up 54 per cent compared with the same period last year. In Ottawa, thefts are already up nearly 27 per cent this year compared with last, while Montreal is on track to surpass the number of thefts from 2021.
"It is staggering. It's a very, very large number," Det. Sgt. Peter Wehby said about Toronto's spike. He's with the newly formed Organized Crime Investigative Support Team, which tackles what it calls complex investigations by liaising with different police divisions and with teams in other regions, cities and even countries.
"I don't think anything has changed with respect to 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 due to supply-chain issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of those orders came in this year, flooding the market with more vehicles.
"From what I understand, hundreds and hundreds of orders had come in that were unable to be delivered. So it's simply a case of a higher supply, which makes it more available for these things to take," Wehby said.
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