A distinction Winnipeg is thrilled to shed

MAYOR Sam Katz to Winnipegger: Start spread­ing the news.

City police and Manitoba Public Insurance sta­tistics show Winnipeg’s car-theft rate for 2008 was the lowest in 16 years. That takes a big bite out of the city’s reputation as the car-theft capital of Canada — a distinction handed to Winnipeg 11 years in a row by Statistics Canada.

"I’m very happy to see we are getting very posi­tive results," Katz said. "But I’m going to say we can do more."

Katz said the other trick now is getting Winni­peggers to accept the fact the city is slowly shed­ding its image as the worst place in Canada for car theft.

"I’m not too concerned about titles," Katz said. "I’m more concerned about what Winnipeggers and Manitobans are thinking than anyone else."

The mayor said it’s now up to the people who live here to spread the message to others, including to the national media, which has taken shots against Winnipeg.

"We have to talk more about the positive," Des­tination Winnipeg spokeswoman Lori Walder said. "Wi n n ipeggers re a l ly h ave to t a ke i nto ac c ou nt t he good things and stop listening to other people."

Besides declining car thefts, Walder said the city also boasts a stable housing market and a growing economy.

Police and MPI statistics released over the past week suggest the city is on the right path. Police statistics reflect all reported thefts, including un­registered vehicles, while MPI’s numbers only re­flect insurance claims.

Police numbers show auto theft declined 45 per cent per cent last year from 2007 totals. MPI’s data shows 3,173 vehicles were stolen in Winnipeg last year — 2,303 fewer than 2007.

However, University of Manitoba criminologist Rick Linden, the chairman of the provincial auto­theft reduction task force, cautioned that more has to be done.

Linden said it will take another year of enforce­ment to lower theft rates even more before it’s re­flected in national statistics comparing Winnipeg to other cities.

"The problem is, we were so far ahead of every­one else," he said. "We have to drop an awful lot to get back into the mix of other cities."

But Linden said the number of attempted thefts, while lower, is still too high compared to other cit­ies. It’s been Statistic Canada’s practice to blend actual and attempted thefts to compile compara­tive crime statistics, something that works to Win­nipeg’s disadvantage. Attempted thefts in Winni­peg fell to 3,197 in 2008 from 6,063 in 2007.

Linden said the upshot is that by July, when StatsCan releases its numbers, Winnipeg will still be a contender for car-theft capital of Canada, but by then those numbers will be more than six months old.

However, Linden added overall crime should be down. "We’re going to look a lot better when the stats come out in July," he said.

Katz said the drawback to Winnipeg shedding its position of car-theft capital is that some other city, like Abbotsford, B.C., or Edmonton, will in­herit it.

"And I tell you it doesn’t make me feel any bet­ter it’s some other city than us," he said.

 bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

The proof

•  Manitoba Public Insurance’s ignition-im­mobilizer program, which has thief-proofed 73 per cent of the most-at-risk vehicles, and the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy, which keeps close tabs on chronic teenage car thieves.

•  In the fall of 2004, the city was averaging  24 cars stolen a day. That number has dropped to less than 10.