Licence to steal

Sherryll Stenberg and her neighbours in Old St. Vital have had everything from wagons to flower pots disappear from their back yards amid a series of property thefts this summer.

What she didn’t expect was for the licence plate to be stolen off her camping trailer while it was parked behind her home in June.

“I’m frustrated because there are constant posts about people coming into our yards,” said Stenberg, referring to social media groups where neighbourhood residents share details of incidents or surveillance video to warn others. “There are constant thefts down our back lanes. It seems to be all the time.”

The plate theft is alarming to her because she doesn’t know who took it or if someone put it on another trailer while committing a crime.

“I’m frustrated because there are constant posts about people coming into our yards.”–Sherryll Stenberg

The Winnipeg Police Service warned this week that thefts of licence plates from cars, SUVs and other vehicles continue to be a problem throughout the city.

Stolen plates have been found on vehicles that were then used in armed robberies, break-ins, drug-related offences or other crimes.

The WPS had 318 reports of stolen plates up to Aug. 25 this year, which is on pace to rival recent annual totals.

Police said 475 were reported in 2023 and 470 in 2024.

Monthly totals fluctuated over the 32-month period. The highest monthly total was 72 in November 2023, while the lowest was 25 in November 2024.

Two people were accused of stealing more than a dozen licence plates during a February to April crime spree that involved break-ins and credit card fraud, police said earlier this year. Officers found some of the plates inside stolen vehicles that were ditched.

In a separate case in January, suspects used stolen licence plates to avoid detection during gunpoint robberies at hotels, restaurants and bars. In one incident, a victim reported seeing a hand grenade, police said. The 10-day spree led to two arrests.

In typical cases, thieves steal a vehicle’s plates and attach them to another vehicle, which may be stolen, to avoid detection while carrying out a crime.

“It makes initial police detection not as obvious. As well, if people are looking for a certain vehicle with a given plate, and if it’s not matching, it’s not as obvious to the community and the police if they’re looking for that vehicle,” WPS spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said.

In some cases, the victim’s plate is replaced with another stolen plate. Criminals often steal multiple plates and swap them regularly to avoid being tracked.

The tactic complicates investigations and makes it more difficult for officers to identify suspects and recover stolen property, police said in an alert to the public.

Some victims don’t realize a licence plate has been stolen from their vehicle, or swapped with another stolen plate, until well after the fact or until they get a phone call or visit from police.

Some registered owners end up with red-light camera or parking tickets that criminals racked up, giving them the hassle of getting the tickets overturned.

That’s why it’s important to report a plate theft as soon as it’s discovered.

“As long as there’s a police report attached, any of those consequences will be rectified.”–Const. Dani McKinnon

“As long as there’s a police report attached, any of those consequences will be rectified,” McKinnon said.

“That is a very common occurrence where a stolen vehicle will not obey traffic signs or red-light cameras, and it might not be until months later that a registered owner might get that (ticket).”

Stenberg said the theft of her camper’s plate was reported stolen after her husband went out to do some work in the yard and noticed it was missing.

The couple had to go through the inconvenience of obtaining a new plate from a Manitoba Public Insurance Autopac agent. The missing plate has not been recovered, Stenberg said.

Police encouraged people to use locking screws that make it significantly harder or more time-consuming for thieves to remove plates, which otherwise can be removed within a few seconds.

“It’s a bit more of a deterrent, and thieves will just move on to one that doesn’t have them,” McKinnon said.

Police encouraged people to check their plates regularly and to park in secure, well-lit areas where possible.

Thefts can be reported by calling the WPS non-emergency line at 204-986-6222.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca