The numbers show that crime has been steadily dropping in Canada over the last decade or so in many categories.
Just don’t try and tell that to Tony, who contacted me because he’s fed up with being victimized over and over again by the people he calls neighbours.
Tony lives in the Metrotown area, which is consistently the most crime-ridden part of the city when it comes to vehicles being stolen and vehicles being broken into.
Tony moved into a condo building and thought his vehicle would be safe.
“That’s why I chose a place with a spot in a ‘secure’ underground parking lot,” he said. “But it’s been anything but ‘secure’ since then.”
Tony wanted me to put the quote marks around the world “secure” because he says it’s a joke. Actually, the word he used was “gong show” for the number of break-ins to his and other vehicles in the building.
“There’s been like a dozen since I moved it,” Tony said. “And this gong show is an inside job.”
Tony has been investigating and is sure that people who live in the building are either the ones breaking into the vehicles or the ones letting thieves into the underground parking lot in exchange for getting a cut of the spoils.
“It’s not actually that easy to get in, so I’ve watched the situation and come to that conclusion,” he said.
That’s a hard one for Burnaby RCMP to deal with. Not much they can do to stop it.
Some vehicles have actually been stolen from the lot. On that subject, there’s new data showing what vehicles are the most stolen in our community.
The dubious winner is the 2018 Honda CR-V 4DR AWD, according to data from the Insurance Bureau of Canada. In 2019, it was the 2007 Ford F350 SD 4WD that was the most-stolen in the nation.
Second on the list is the 2017 Lexus RX350.
The revelation was made in a new study that says British Columbia had the third-highest number of auto thefts in Canada in 2019.
The study, conducted by Hellosafe.ca determined that 87,006 cars were stolen in Canada in 2019. This figure increased by 1.01% in one year, with 874 more car thefts reported than in 2018.
Ontario, with almost 24,000 car thefts in 2019, ranks first among Canadian provinces in this regard, followed closely by Alberta (23,535). With 13,352 auto thefts, B.C. came third followed by Quebec (11,961).
In British Columbia and Alberta, the 2006 Ford F350 SD 4WD was the most stolen vehicle of 2020.
- With files from Elana Shepert, Vancouver is Awesome
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44
