Do not want your car to be stolen? Let go of the distance, warns Toronto police

Fan of your car’s remote starter? Do you like to let the engine warm up while you go inside to finish?

You may want to reconsider.

Toronto police are issuing a stern warning about an increase in opportunistic car thefts of people leaving their cars unattended – and offering wannabe thieves a golden opportunity to simply hop in and out of a nice, warm vehicle row.

Chief James Ramer spoke to the Toronto Police Department on Thursday, saying that 68 vehicles have been reported stolen so far this year – almost twice as many as at this point last year, with a worrying increase in warm-up thefts.

“Just last night we stole seven more vehicles and two of them were warming up,” Ramer said.

He said police will soon provide new messages to discourage people from leaving their cars on the driveways to warm up.

“That violation has doubled and, no doubt with the next 30 to 60 days of the colder weather this year, we are going to see that it continues if precautions are not taken,” he said.

Ramer added that car owners should not hang their keys near the door, and rather keep it in a secure container that is further into the house. Car thieves are increasingly using sophisticated technologies to mess with keys’ electronic signals and can get into the vehicle “within a minute” if not properly hidden, he explained.

Ramer made the remarks in a discussion on the increase in car theft as an “issue of interest” to the city.

Organized vehicle theft and car hijackings (when a passenger is forced to hand over a car under threat of violence) have increased in Toronto over the past few years, Ramer said, noting that the city has registered a “disturbing” 81 percent increase . in car thefts since 2017.

Relatively common brands such as Honda, Toyota, Ford and Lexus are the most targeted vehicles, but high-end models such as Land Rover, BMW and Mercedes have also attracted thieves.

Luxury types such as Rolls-Royce and McLaren were also targeted, usually for export purposes.

A recent Star investigation found that insurance rates have increased significantly for car models that are often targeted by theft.

In an effort to deal with the increase in thefts, Ramer told the board that he had expanded the mandate of the service’s Hold Up Squad. Power is also in the process of redeploying officers and creating a centralized unit that will target organized crime groups that benefit from the theft of vehicles.

He noted that such a unit existed before, but was disbanded in 2017 due to budget constraints, the timing of which corresponds to “the increase we have seen in car theft.”

The restart of this unit, Ramer added, would represent a $ 2.1 million reallocation of police resources.

“In 2021, a number of vehicles will be used in the commission of other crimes, including shootings, both here in Toronto as well as in outside jurisdictions,” Ramer added.

Towards the end of last year, the Toronto City Council also voted to ask the provincial government to create a task force that would help combat the “out of control criminal activities” that have become car theft.

With files by Wendy Gillis