Soaring Sage Creek auto theft rumours just that: WPS

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This article was published 28/01/2022 (1350 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Recent social media reports of widespread, organized car theft in the Sage Creek neighbourhood don’t pass muster for the Winnipeg Police Service.

A community Facebook page was abuzz this week with reports of auto thievery in south Winnipeg. On Friday, a WPS spokeswoman didn’t dismiss concerns in the suburban neighbourhoods and the city overall — but said there have not been large numbers of vehicles reported stolen in the area recently.

“Looking at 2019, 2020 and 2021, cumulatively, plus just this month of January, there is an uptick in all of those (south Winnipeg) neighbourhoods, but in general, there’s kind of been an uptick (in auto thefts),” said Const. Dani McKinnon.

“(However) just this month alone — which is almost completed but not quite — we’ve only had three reported (auto) thefts from Sage Creek.”

McKinnon said any increase in auto thefts city-wide is likely tied to the extremely cold weather of recent weeks.

“When you look at the mode of these thefts, almost all of them are as a result of people leaving their keys in the vehicle running… Obviously, we always tell cautionary tales to not leave your vehicle running, but with the temperatures the way they’ve been — I know why people are doing it,” she told the Free Press.

Of 18 recent car thefts in Winnipeg, McKinnon said, 12 were nabbed while the vehicle was running, few saw tampering to the ignition or steering column (hot-wiring).

The constable added modern cars are harder to steal than vehicles of the past.

“(Auto thieves) had to break into the steering column… and that’s when we started getting the (steering wheel) bars or the immobilizer,” McKinnon said.

“Now, with the ignition pads being so much more electronic, different things happen — you usually have to have that fob to have the car move.”

Between 2003 and 2007, Winnipeg had the highest rate of auto theft in North America, noted a 2009 report produced by a task force of WPS, Manitoba Justice and Manitoba Public Insurance.

At the time, the report said car theft and subsequent joyrides — mostly meant for excitement, not primarily for the reselling of the vehicles to chop shops or out of the city — was commonplace amid the culture of inner-city youths.

“When I started in 2004, there was a crew… they were just wreaking havoc,” McKinnon said.

“(The gang) were youths that were responsible for a big chunk of the auto theft within the city, and so that is more of an organized crime (element). They were purposefully doing that, and they were joyriding.”

In recent years, McKinnon said, many vehicle thefts are actually carjackings — vehicles robbed outright from citizens often to use as getaway cars to help scofflaws commit further crimes.

“There is a lot of stolen vehicles in Winnipeg… but those are by criminals who are using those vehicles as a mode to, more than likely, commit an additional crime,” she said.

McKinnon noted the theft and shipment of luxury vehicles from Winnipeg to other locations is not on the police service’s radar, although high-end vehicles are often targeted for catalytic converter thefts.

Twitter: @erik_pindera

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca