Following a crackdown on car theft in Southern Ontario, police say new requirements forcing automakers to include anti-theft immobilizers in vehicles will help cut down on theft - but they want vehicle owners to do their part, too.
Senior officers from various Ontario Provincial Police and Greater Toronto Area police detachments spoke to reporters in Orillia yesterday, as they unveiled the proceeds from Project X5, a recent joint-forces investigation that seized more than $1.5-million worth of stolen vehicles.
As of tomorrow, auto manufacturers must include electronic immobilizers - devices that allow only the key holder to turn on the vehicle - in most new cars, vans, trucks and SUVs sold in Canada. Local authorities hope the move will help lessen the number of vehicles - more than 50,000 - stolen in Ontario each year.
OPP Sergeant David Thomas said thieves typically steal the vehicle that is easiest for them to grab and, as a result, can be deterred by simple preventative measures - such as locked doors or rolled-up windows - that will make them look elsewhere.
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"A lot of thieves nowadays aren't the most energetic; they want to go for the easy prey," he said.
Sgt. Thomas said vehicle owners can prevent thefts by parking in well-lit areas, keeping their cars in a locked garage and by not leaving running vehicles unattended.
OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said that everyone should do what they can to limit opportunities for would-be thieves. "Citizens need to do what they can to safeguard themselves," he said.
Project X5 was led by the Provincial Auto Theft Team - a partnership of the OPP, Toronto police and police in Peel and York Regions - and involved 10 full-time investigators, all of whom worked for five months to gather intelligence about the auto-theft world.
Police set up a fake export business for the project, and in a series of raids Wednesday, arrested 19 individuals - with two more arrests to follow - and laid more than 130 charges related to automotive thefts. Most of the thefts took place in and around the Toronto area.
Police also seized more than $800,000 in controlled substances, $55,000 in cash and a number of long guns and handguns.
Detective Staff Sergeant Scott Mills, unit commander of the Provincial Auto Theft Team, said the 19 individuals were part of five different auto-theft groups - unrelated to each other - operating within the GTA.
The raids came less than a month after a veteran York Region police officer, 43-year-old Constable Robert Plunkett, was killed while investigating an airbag theft ring, also operating out of the Toronto area.
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