A road map to addressing a crisis
Toronto Star|February 03, 2024
As police, government and industry prepare for summit next week, here’s what's on the agenda
PETER EDWARDS & JASON MILLER
A road map to addressing a crisis

A couple dozen cars will likely be stolen in the GTA as police, government and industry officials huddle in Ottawa for a one-day summit on how to combat the national auto theft crisis.

That’s the rate for vehicles stolen from GTA driveways and or in carjackings on local streets every day.

As bad as that looks, the numbers are getting worse — which explains the need for the Feb. 8 summit.

From 2021 to 2022, auto thefts and carjackings more than doubled in Toronto, Peel and York Region, according to a December report by the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada (CISC).

“Given the increasing involvement of street gangs in vehicle theft, the potential for violence and carjackings will likely increase,” the report states.

The summit will draw representatives from all levels of government and policing, along with industry leaders, dealers and insurers, trying to figure out how to better work together.

“Everybody needs to jump in on this and understand that this is a big issue and a big problem that we’re facing,” said Peel police Det. Greg O’Connor, of the service's commercial commercial auto crime unit.

“We’re not going to arrest our way out of this epidemic.”

Here are nine key things experts say should be a focus of next week’s summit:

The organizations behind the crisis 

According to Toronto police data, thieves managed to steal more than 12,000 vehicles in the city in 2023 — a startling 250 per cent increase since 2015, to a level just shy of a post-amalgamation record.

The criminals behind all of those thefts have a definite division of labour, which presents authorities with a multi-layered challenge.

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