‘A crime of opportunity’: Police, theft victim remind Calgarians not to leave vehicles running

It took thieves less than a minute to take off with Christine Liu’s vehicle on Monday and now she’s hoping others in Calgary don’t make the same mistake.

Liu said she started her car before running back to grab a couple of items for work, and in that time, someone took off in her Toyota Corolla.

“I looked out the window and could see the snow from my tires,” said Liu. “It was literally 30 seconds and someone had jumped into my car and took off with it.”

After hours of searching her community, Liu found her vehicle nine blocks from her house but unfortunately, the damage was already done.

“The front windshield is completely smashed and the bumper is halfway missing, it’s missing the whole back bumper,” said Liu. “I’m completely heartbroken. I absolutely love this car.”

Liu isn’t alone. So far in the month of December, Calgary police say 16 vehicles have been stolen while left running and unattended.

That’s two more than last December but a large drop from pre-pandemic levels in 2019 where officers investigated 71 similar incidents.

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Const. Biagio Iannace with the Crime Prevention Unit said there are several reasons why thieves may target easy-to-steal vehicles.

“It could be just for joyriding or it could be just to stay warm,” said Iannace. “They could also be committing other crimes. It’s just a crime of opportunity.”

He said larger pickup trucks have been among the more popular models to be stolen and they’re often used in smash-and-grabs.

“They use a lot of Ford F350s,” said Iannace. “They just smashed right through the window and cause more damage than the actual theft.”

The 35-year CPS veteran says the message remains the same: don’t leave your vehicle running if you’re not sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Even if it’s locked, it’s so easy to smash out a window and in two seconds they’re in,” said Iannace.

For Liu, she just hopes others learn from her mistake.

“If there’s no way to lock your doors or if you don’t have a car starter, it’s not worth walking away from it,” said Liu. “It was literally 30 seconds and my car was gone.”

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