Police are seeing an increase in violent carjackings amid an ebb in the flow of total stolen autos across three local police jurisdictions hardest hit by the auto theft crisis.
Police in Peel, 海角社区官网and York region say that while the downward trend in total auto thefts is a positive signal that a combination of enforcement and public awareness are yielding results, the ongoing surge in the use of violence to steal vehicles continues to be concerning.
Heading into October, 海角社区官网police recorded a 46 per cent increase in carjackings, with 203 offences, compared to 139, over the same time frame last year. This is happening as overall auto thefts are trending downward in Canada’s largest city and a jurisdiction that saw more than 12,000 vehicle thefts in 2023.
The reveals that the city is actually seeing a 20 per cent decrease in auto thefts, year-to-date, with roughly 1,906 less vehicle thefts across the city, when compared to last year.
This incident was a carjacking 鈥 the thieves followed the driver into their driveway before forcibly making off with their Lamborghini SUV.
海角社区官网Police ServiceInsp. Joseph Matys from the 海角社区官网police Hold Up Squad told the Star that while it’s too early to celebrate a win, there are signs that police are seeing some successes from the recent bolstering of local police resources, targeted enforcement and collaborative effort such as intelligence sharing between police and agencies like Canada Border Services Agency.
“We started to make inroads at several criminal organizations, in order to chip away at some of these things,” he said. “We keep getting better at our game. We’re making the right inroads; it’s just going to take a bit of time. ”
“The bad part is, yes, carjackings are still on the increase,” he added.
According to numbers collected by the Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force, established in 2023, to disrupt the networks responsible for high-risk auto thefts, which increasingly involve violence, firearms and other weapons, 海角社区官网is a hot spot.
Matys said that the task force investigated 378 occurrences, of which 275 occurred in Toronto, where residents of the city were victims. He said the “majority of this is happening in our backyard,” even though the suspects are often coming in from other jurisdictions.
Also worrying for Matys is youth participation in these violent acts and the heightened degree of risks involved when inexperienced young drivers, who are heavily armed, get behind the wheel of a stolen car and create havoc to evade capture.
Firearms, Canadian currency seized during carjacking arrest in April 2024.
TORONTO POLICEHe said these kids are stealing, then erratically operating sport cars that are designed for speed.
Peel and 海角社区官网police recently charged an 18-year-old woman,聽who is being accused of running over a man with his own Porsche,聽while pretending to be a legitimate buyer, in an incident that was captured on video and has since gone viral.
The woman reportedly did not have a driver’s license.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to get away from the scene before police get there and they鈥檙e crashing their vehicles into poles and into fields,鈥 Matys said.
Long gone are the days when young people would be most often caught with a replica firearm, Matys said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very concerning, due to the ages and the use of firearms,鈥 he said.
“Nowadays, almost 99 per cent of those firearms are real and they鈥檙e not the old rusty firearms; they鈥檙e high-performance pistols that have extended magazines or have been modified to be fully automatic,鈥 he said.
Whether shipped overseas, fraudulently re-VINed and sold domestically, or used as a disposable tool to commit other crimes here in the GTA, Matys said stolen vehicles have become a valuable commodity for organized crime groups.
He said that another positive indicator that things are heading in the right direction, is that home invasions that result in the theft of a vehicle have seen a 35 per cent decrease.
Matys also credits vehicle owners for beefing up protection measures, which makes it more difficult for thieves to make off with vehicles.
The 海角社区官网trends are mirroring those seen in neighbouring Peel, which is experiencing a 44 per cent increase in carjackings. Up to the end of August, Peel police saw 98 carjackings, compared to 66 over the same eight-month window, last year.聽聽
“That is something that we’re very concerned about,” said Det. Greg O’Connor, of the service’s commercial auto crime unit.
O’Connor is also concerned about the use of violence against responding police. Last month, Peel police charged a 25-year-old man after he allegedly tried to drive over several police cruisers while trying to flee a Mississauga Tim Hortons parking lot with a stolen vehicle.
“The violence that’s increasing is unacceptable,” O’Connor said.
Peel police statistics reveal an overall eight per cent decrease in stolen autos, with 4,998 vehicle thefts until the end of August, compared to 5,450 over the same time frame in 2023.
Of the聽63 home invasions committed in Peel this year, 38 were targeting vehicles, Peel police said.
O’Connor said that like 海角社区官网and York, his community has been dealing with repeat offenders, who are being charged, released on bail and are caught reoffending shortly after their release.
“We’re seeing it on a regular basis,” he said. “They’re being released on very little to no conditions.”
He said there are positive signs that the different levels of government are tightening up legislation targeting auto thefts, including bail reform, which he hopes will further curtail the most prolific offenders.
Back in August, York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween said his community had seen a 106 per cent jump in carjackings (a total of 64), compared to the same time frame last year.
It was not all bad news however, as York police released numbers, earlier this month, showing that as of Aug. 31 there have been 1,868 vehicles stolen, down from 2,720 in 2023聽鈥 a 31 per cent year-over-year decrease.
Yet still, the chief cautioned during his address to the media in August that 鈥渕ake no mistake, the numbers are still troubling.”
