(Toronto) Vehicle thefts were down 17 per cent in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to data compiled by an insurance-funded crime-fighting organization.
According to the Equity Association, this reduction can be attributed to several factors, including better collaboration between border authorities and police forces, measures put in place by governments and public awareness.
Equity’s vice president of investigative services, Bryan Gast, notes that collective efforts have reduced the number of thefts and, thus, the flow of money into the pockets of organized crime.
In this way, the various measures have reversed the worrying trend of recent years.
In Quebec, vehicle thefts fell by 36%, according to Équité, while Ontario saw a drop of 14%.
Conversely, the number of thefts increased by 11% in Atlantic Canada. Equity believes that this increase is probably linked to the better deterrent measures that have been put in place in Quebec and Ontario.
The organization emphasizes that it is necessary to continue to focus on the prevention of thefts, in order to prevent them from happening.
Taking the profits out of organized crime
The Insurance Bureau of Canada paid out about $1.5 billion in claims in 2023, a record high. That year, vehicle thefts increased by 50% in Quebec and by almost the same amount in Ontario.
Insurers say the majority of vehicles are stolen in Ontario and Quebec and exported through the busy port of Montreal. About 1.7 million containers passed through the port last year, including 70 per cent of Canada’s legal vehicle exports, according to port authorities.
The federal government estimates that 90,000 cars are stolen each year in Canada and that many of these thefts are linked to organized crime.
“This is not just a victimless crime. This is not just a property crime,” Gast said in an interview Wednesday. “This is organized crime that is targeting the vehicle as a commodity to profit from and fund their criminal operations.”
He added that the aim was to reduce the number of thefts and remove profits from organised crime.
Gast said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the six-month trend and hopes it will continue for the rest of the year. However, he added, there is a need to continue to focus on collaborative efforts.
“It’s a complex problem with a complex solution. There’s no silver bullet,” he said. “Everything has to come together, from making the vehicle harder to steal to helping Canadians by making them aware of certain precautions.”
The federal government’s action plans unveiled over the May long weekend expanded existing efforts, following a summit in February that brought together multiple stakeholders to discuss solutions.
One of the action plans to counter organized crime is to report all stolen vehicles internationally through a database, informing all countries that there may be stolen vehicles on their territory.
Other strategies call for further expansion of shipping container inspections, including deploying scanning and detection technologies beyond ports to places like rail yards. The government also said Public Safety Canada would lead a task force that would involve all provincial and territorial governments.