By: Habeebah Ahmad & Laura Mejia
In recent months, car theft in the GTA has been a growing problem, more particularly in the Peel Region. On average, 20 cars are being stolen a day. Peel Regional Police has also admitted defeat on 163 out of 1,433 vehicles being unsolved.
A record breaking 506 were stolen in a period of over 30 days in Mississauga and Brampton throughout the month of February. Some of the most common areas that experience high theft are: City Centre Drive, Great Lakes Drive, Terminal Three Road and Viscount Road.
A major question still remains? Why is Peel Region more particularly Mississauga and Brampton a higher target? According to Peel Regional Police as discussed at the 2024 Auto Theft Summit, , it is easier for thieves to escape onto the highway that will lead them out of the GTA.
The international car market is also very big and can generate lots of revenue. Earlier this year, 251 Canadian cars were found at The Port of Gioia Tauro in Italy. Among those cars were “expensive” and “prestigious” brands according to Italian police.
Many of the thefts are growing violent. In many reported cases, thieves are seen breaking into people’s homes with weapons and attacking in order to obtain the key fob. One family in Brampton was left traumatized after theieves broke into their home, demanding for the car keys.Vinay Saini was terrified as the thieves told him he had a gun and his children were in the house asleep. The thieves were not successful in taking Saini’s BMW however, it was left damaged.
Scarborough native Fatima Mulungi fell victim to car theft. Although it is more prominent in Peel Region, neighbouring cities are still at risk. Fortunately for her, herself nor her house was not harmed. She was the owner of a 2022 Toyota Corolla. One morning she woke up and she found her car gone. “I don’t know how they did it. I think they were trying to figure out how to pull out the wires from the compartment and then they came back four days later and took my car.”
Mulungi suspects that her car was tampered with four days prior to it getting stolen. On the passenger side of the car one of her covers was off. At first she did not think anything of it but she soon put the pieces together. This incident happened over a month ago and Mulungi has still not been successful in retrieving her car. Police are still working on the case.
Her insurance company is involved as well and she may be able to get reimbursed however that process can take awhile. For right now Mulungi had to purchase an older car for 2,000 dollars to get her around.
Mulungi is not the only person who has experienced car theft. Candice Simpson who resides within the Peel Region has gotten two cars stolen out of her driveway (on separate occasions). Similar to Mulungi when Simpson woke up she found her cars not in the driveway. Her first car that was stolen was a rental Lexus NX and the second car which she owned was an Accura RDX.
Image Obtained via Lexus
“Whoever was watching my car, when I went to lock it, they took the signal from my key, they followed me home and waited and then stole my car out of my driveway.”
Luckily for Simpson her insurance company was helpful. They took this matter seriously right away and two months after the incident happened (November 2023) she was able to receive a payout. It was later discovered that her car was in Montreal and it was taken apart.
Getting both her cars stolen twice has left Simpson traumatized. Since those incidents she has taken extreme security measures such as putting air tags in her cars and installing more security cameras around her house.
Simpson who has insurance with the CAA is beyond grateful for how they were able to compensate her. Silverstein also emphasizes on the company trying its best to make sure they can help out their customers.
“We are trying to make sure that we reward drivers as best as we can. We try to offer incentives.”
Peel Regional Police have also stepped up to try and combat this ongoing issue. According to Detective Greg O’Connor; “Since September of last year we’ve doubled the size of our unit.” A lot of the money received from their grants have also gone towards frontline officers to help give them the resources as well.
However many people have mixed responses in regard to how the police have been handling this situation including Simpson. She felt that they did not act as urgently as she had to wait almost six hours for them to come to her house and file a report.
“When we call them and say we have someone on our driveway taking our car they should maybe react a little better.”
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown also urges that police officers focus on ports and introduce scanners that can detect containers.
Last month, Peel Regional Police auto theft summit conference was to “identify and address the vulnerabilities in auto theft beyond enforcement actions.” They are hoping to reduce this crime and help members of the community who have fallen victim to theft.
For residents that may be concerned about this on going epidemic, there is also data and more information available on Peel Regional Police’s website.
It is unfortunate that carjackings have been on the rise and residents have to take extra precaution. They cannot even leave their cars on their own properties without second guessing whether or not someone is going to steal their car. However with insurance companies being more accommodating and police officers applying extra pressure; hopefully this epidemic subsides.
Be the first to comment