EDMONTON – Edmonton is seeing an upward trend in the number of vehicles being stolen from city streets.
In 2015, 3,977 vehicles were stolen in Edmonton. That’s up from 3,482 in 2014, a 14 per cent increase.
That’s not the only crime on the rise; thefts from vehicles were also up about 14 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014.
Staff Sgt. Steve Sharpe with the Edmonton Police Service said criminals usually steal vehicles for one of two reasons – the first being simply to get from point A to point B. The other is so they can go commit more crimes, according to Sharpe.
“Once they have that stolen vehicle they can then maybe do a robbery or steal some gas, do a number of other crimes with your stolen vehicle.”
Beata Kilarska became a victim earlier this week. On Monday morning, she was coming home from walking her son to his day home when she noticed her garage door was wide open. Her husband’s car was gone and at first she didn’t think much of it.
“I go back home to ask him and by the look on his face I knew right away something must have happened. The car had been stolen,” Kilarska said.
“At first we couldn’t believe it. Like, how? When? And what happened? It was shocking.”
Kilarska, who caught the entire crime on surveillance video, admits she and her husband were partially to blame because they left the garage door unlocked.
“For sure it’s not going to happen again. We are locking the doors everywhere. I think that’s the lesson learned and if somebody can learn from the mistake of ours I think that’s worth it.”
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Unlocked vehicle doors are also a concern for police. Sharpe said criminals will often go vehicle-to-vehicle trying door handles until they get in.
“You’d be surprised at how many (vehicles) are left open any given night.”
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There isn’t one particular make or model of vehicle thieves are targeting, nor is there one part of the city that sees more thefts than another. Sharpe said for criminals, it all comes down to opportunity. One of the biggest opportunities is a running vehicle with no occupants.
“Vehicles are running and there’s vulnerability with that. Someone just jumps in the driver’s seat and takes off with your vehicle,” he said.
“The other issue is, if the vehicle’s unlocked, it gives someone an opportunity to get in … rummage around and they’ll find that spare key and they’re off with your vehicle.”
Sharpe said a lot of onus comes back on the vehicle owner.
“You can’t leave your vehicle running, you shouldn’t leave your vehicle unlocked, you shouldn’t leave spare keys within your vehicle.”
Sharpe suggests every vehicle owner should use a steering wheel club, take valuables out the vehicle, never leave a spare key in the vehicle and never leave the vehicle running unattended.
As of March 30, 2016, 372 stolen vehicles have been reported to police.