Police across Toronto and the GTA have task forces with catchy names, like Project Joker, Poacher, Vector and Chickadee.
asserted
Police → have → Joker
Ontario has poured millions of dollars into boosting enforcement.
asserted
Ontario → pour → enforcement
Hundreds of undercover officers have nabbed hundreds of thieves as young as 11 for all kinds of car theft, from simple driveway jobs to violent home invasions and even more violent carjackings.
asserted
Hundreds → nab → invasions
Special prosecutors have been assigned in an attempt to make charges stick.
asserted
charges → assign → attempt
The cars stolen in Canada are either shipped to West Africa or the Middle East, or their identity — their VIN — is changed, and they are resold in Canada.
asserted
they → steal → Canada
Some of the cars stolen from Canada are even showing up on the streets of Russia, where Western export bans have created a ravenous demand for new cars.
asserted
bans → steal → cars
It’s true that car theft rates that spiked during the pandemic have receded, but they are still much higher than pre 2020.
asserted
they → ’ → 2020
It’s the new normal, investigators say.
asserted
investigators → ’ → ?
Car owners are trying everything — from applying a clear “security film” to strengthen windows and door glass, to installing steel bollards at the end of their driveway.
asserted
owners → try → driveway
But the overseas demand for Canadian cars remains strong, and thieves keep steps ahead of police.
asserted
thieves → remain → police
Getting the controlling minds is proving near impossible.
asserted
Getting → get → minds
“The Mr. Bigs are tough to get,” a law enforcement official told the Star.
asserted
official → get → Star
“All we get most times is the thieves and the runners.”
asserted
we → get → ?
That’s because the theft squads are organized into silos — the people doing one job have no contact with those doing the next, and no one knows who’s calling the shots.
asserted
who → ’ → shots
They connect through Snapchat — the disappearing message function makes it the current favourite — or through encrypted apps like WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram.
asserted
it → connect → WhatsApp
Police are pushing for a new lawful access act (Bill C-22), which, if passed, may give them the power to find out who is behind some of the numbers on the chat.
uncertain
who → push → chat
“Someone sends out a blast in a group chat, and nobody knows who the people are,” explained Insp. Kristy Smith of Toronto Police Service’s Hold-Up Squad, which handles some violent car theft investigations.
asserted
which → send → investigations
The first five people to respond get the job.
asserted
people → respond → job
“They are given instructions, and they all come together,” Smith said.
asserted
Smith → give → instructions
The Star has interviewed senior detectives from all the GTA forces, along with agents from the Canada Border Services Agency.
asserted
Star → interview → Agency
“There might be four or five different groups all operating independently of each other, and they do not know what the other does,” explained Peel Regional Police acting Insp. Ian Harloff, of the force’s Commercial Auto Crime Bureau.
uncertain
Harloff → operate → Bureau
How auto thefts work, from start to finish
It begins, Harloff explained, with the Mr. Big, sometimes called the “Finance” — the person or persons who will pay those in other silos, and ultimately profit by selling the stolen vehicles to overseas or domestic customers.
asserted
who → work → customers
As an example, the Finance puts the word out that he has “a buyer in Africa that I can export to.”
asserted
I → put → that
It’s a “steal to order” scheme where they are looking for certain brands, right down to the trim.
asserted
they → ’ → trim
Originally designed for military use, the “G-Wagon” is sought-after in the Middle East and Africa for its mix of off-road capability and flashy luxury.
asserted
Wagon → design → capability
Next come the “thieves,” the younger people, often teens, who take the biggest risk by actually stealing the cars.
asserted
who → come → cars
They get the text blast and source the vehicles, often just by driving around.
asserted
They → get → vehicles
Wealthy neighbourhoods equal nicer cars.
asserted
neighbourhoods → equal → cars
In a case where a G-Wagon was stolen by home invasion in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood, a 12-year-old girl lamented to her father, a lawyer, “Daddy, can we please not have any nice cars?”
asserted
we → steal → cars
The job of the thief is only to take the car, and drive it to the “drop” location.
asserted
job → take → location
Any obvious GPS tracking device is removed or disabled, said Peel’s Harloff, a 26-year policing veteran.
asserted
Harloff → track → ?
It’s now time for the next silo.
asserted
It → ’ → silo
Some detectives call them the “runners.”
asserted
detectives → call → them
This team moves the stolen G-Wagon to a “cooling off” spot where it will sit for a day or two.
asserted
it → move → day
This is often a highly visible location, like a mall parking lot where the car will not stand out.
asserted
car → stand → lot
This silo has members who make occasional drive-by checks for police activity, usually a sign that a hurried thief missed a GPS tracking device.
asserted
thief → have → device
In one theft, the GPS was torn out, but the car owner had his golf clubs in the trunk with an Apple AirTag in one pocket.
asserted
owner → tear → pocket
Police found the vehicle while it was “cooling off.”
asserted
it → find → vehicle
Sometimes, Harloff said, canny thieves put their own tracking device on a stolen car and wait for an alert that it has moved.
asserted
it → say → alert
If police or the owner don’t show up, this silo moves the vehicle.
asserted
silo → show → vehicle
…and 120 more, not listed.
The Aporia
