WATCH (above): This year marks the 10th anniversary of IMPACT. The latest theft statistics were released and – more evidence – the program is a huge success. Geoff Hastings reports.
When the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team (IMPACT) first began chasing car thieves a decade ago, they were dealing with 70 thefts a day. In 2013, only 17 people reported a stolen vehicle on an average day in B.C.
According to ICBC, vehicle thefts have decreased 75 per cent, and theft from vehicles has declined 68 per cent in B.C. since 2003.
From 2012 to 2013, vehicle thefts decreased nine per cent, and theft from vehicles declined 17 per cent in B.C., the year that IMPACT introduced “bait” cars. A bait car is a vehicle owned by the police, which is intended to be stolen. Once the car is stolen, police can track the thief and make an arrest.
“ICBC invests in auto crime prevention, including the Bait Car program and IMPACT, because less crime benefits everyone and helps control claims costs and keep rates as low as possible”, said John Dickinson, ICBC’s director of road safety.
The number of vehicle thefts in B.C. have been steadily falling since 2003, which had 26,000 cars stolen compared to 16,000 in 2007 and 6,400 in 2013.
“To put that another way, you could take the largest ferry that sails from Tsawwassen to Vancouver Island and fill it 40 times with the number of cars that were not stolen last year compared to 2003 numbers,” said Justice Minister Suzanne Anton.
In 2014 investigators at IMPACT will be putting their efforts into targeted enforcement, including larger scale auto thefts, such as those running chop shops or doing vehicle cloning.
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