Drug-induced desperation fuelling rise in carjackings, police say

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This article was published 07/06/2022 (1574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg has seen a dramatic increase in carjackings in recent years, a trend city police are largely tying to drug-induced desperation.

Violence or the threat of violence turns a theft into the more serious offence of robbery.

In 2013, the Winnipeg Police Service investigated just 19 reported carjackings. In 2019, the number reached a high of 126. WPS data provided to the Free Press shows the number fell to 113 in 2020 before rising again last year to 125.

“These are being stolen out of desperation,” police spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said. “The economy’s suffering, the supply chains are low and there’s a sense of desperation sometimes for people that are involved with drug habits.

“These vehicles, they’re being stolen or carjacked to facilitate additional crimes, namely property crimes where they can… do break-ins and then sell more stolen goods, often for nominal amounts of money.”

Vehicles involved in police pursuits are “very often” stolen vehicles, said McKinnon, who was not able to provide data on the recovery rate of stolen vehicles in the city.

Carjackings are crimes of opportunity, police spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said.

“It could literally (happen) anywhere,” he said, though he noted certain areas of the city have higher crime rates where carjackings are more likely to occur.

As of the end of February — the most recent statistics available for 2022 — 41 carjackings had been reported. The data shows October has, historically, been the worst month in Winnipeg, according to the 2013-2021 data.

Police released information Monday about a violent incident in which a mother with her infant child was robbed before her vehicle was stolen at gunpoint by two suspects at a city library in St. John’s.

One suspect, a 16-year-old boy, was charged Saturday with armed robbery with a firearm, possession of a firearm contrary to a prohibition order, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 and driving while prohibited. Police said he jumped out of the slow-moving, stolen vehicle in the area of Salter and Powers streets.

The other suspect remains at large.

Police said that while vehicles are being stolen for parts in some American cities, that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

“Sometimes these trends do cross north of the border, but currently, we’re not seeing evidence to show a trend in vehicles being dismantled and sold,” McKinnon said.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera