The city of Toronto is home to many famous entities — the CN Tower, the Raptors, the Maple Leafs, the Blue Jays, as well as top-selling rapper Drake, and comedic actor Mike Myers.
Though the city is known for many great things, the metropolitan area's nickname of 'GTA' (meaning 'Greater Toronto Area') is unfortunately another name for its most seething epidemic — auto theft.
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According to a May 2023 report by the Canadian Finance and Leasing Association (CFLA), auto theft has surged over 300% in Toronto since 2015, peaking in 2022 — the latest year for which information is available, with the Toronto Police Service reporting 9,606 vehicle thefts within the city that year.
With the problem reaching new heights, one would assume that the local authorities are creatively and proactively cracking down on enforcement, however those who attended a recent community safety meeting in the largely suburban Etobicoke area of Toronto were left puzzled after a police constable suggested a bizarre tip.
As reported by Toronto CityNews, Toronto Police Service Constable Marco Ricciardi acknowledged reports of auto thieves breaking into houses to steal car keys, and suggested that residents take unusual action to protect themselves from physical violence if caught in such a situation.
"To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your [key] fobs at your front door because they're breaking into your home to steal your car. They don't want anything else," Riccardi said at the meeting.
“A lot of them that they’re arresting have guns on them and they’re not toy guns, they’re real guns. They’re loaded.”
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In a release issued by the Toronto Police Service on March 13, the department said that the constable suggested that people leave the keys to their vehicle in a faraday bag - a pouch used to block radio frequency signals — by their front doors. They noted that "while well meaning," other methods to prevent these home invasions are possible, such as parking cars in garages, keeping a well lit driveway, adding home security systems and cameras.
Some Toronto residents have taken the context of the constable's advice seriously, like one resident, whom after having their car broken into three times, leaves their car unlocked with a note indicating it — to make sure the glass doesn't get broken again.
Other residents, however are treating their cars like Fort Knox. In its February 24 report on car theft in Toronto, The New York Times profiled a Honda CR-V owner who has to spend 15 minutes every day removing all of the anti-theft equipment he installed, including a steering wheel club, "four tire locks," as well as lowering a yellow bollard on the driveway.
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Additionally, the Times noted that the CR-V owned by Wilson is fitted with two alarms, a tracking device, four Apple AirTags, keeps his key fob in a signal-jamming Faraday bag, and installed two motion-sensitive floodlights pointed at his driveway in suburban Toronto.
However, when a problem arises, enterprising individuals spring up to try to sell ways to prevent it. Vehicle tracking devices, such as those sold by Montreal-based Tag Tracking, have doubled their sales over the past two years, while local businesses have also sprung up to sell physical protection for cars.
One local business mentioned by the Times in its report was Bollard Boys GTA, who installs bollards at the ends of the small suburban driveways that physically protects the cars of worried motorists.
TheStreet has reached out to the Toronto Police Service for additional comments.
