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A senior Peel police official says car thieves are targeting Mississauga and Brampton, in part because the region is an attractive destination for people and is also home to Canada’s largest and busiest airport .

“When we build a community that people want to come to, we have to understand that there are people who also want to come and prey on that community,” Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief Marc Andrews, in an update on automobile crime at the monthly meeting of the Peel Police Services Board.

The Deputy Chief updated the board members on one of the most recent car theft seizures by police in Peel.

Project Tallahassee, led by the Peel Police Airport Division’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, identified a “group that targeted (cars in) parking lots in and around Pearson Airport” in Mississauga between May 1 and September 1st.

Andrews said investigators linked 77 car thefts to the group and that half of the stolen cars were recovered by police, “all in (shipping) containers in Montreal” intended for illegal sale abroad. .

The remaining 50 percent of the stolen vehicles, he added, would have already been shipped abroad.

Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief Marc Andrews provided an update on auto thefts to members of the Peel Police Services Board on Friday morning.

Andrews said nine people were arrested and charged in connection with the car thefts. They face a total of 135 charges, he added.

“I think this (investigation) highlights for us the trans-jurisdictional nature of crime,” Andrews told board members, adding that she also talks about some of the “indirect costs” to Peel police associated with “to the presence of this monster (Pearson Airport) in our jurisdiction. , with 50 million people passing through each year.

Andrews noted that Peel police worked with Toronto, Hamilton and Halton police, in addition to other partners, to manage the Tallahassee project.

Peel police and local politicians have repeatedly said Mississauga and Brampton have become hot spots for vehicle thefts in recent years. There are more car thefts, per capita, in Peel than anywhere else in Canada, Peel Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said earlier, adding that the problem also extends beyond the region’s borders.

“To say that car theft is an epidemic across Canada and Ontario would be an understatement,” Duraiappah said several times.

Carjackings also on the rise

In addition to parking lots and other public places, car thieves often steal luxury vehicles right from owners’ driveways in Mississauga and Brampton, and elsewhere.

Another area of ​​concern for police is that car thieves are not only targeting unoccupied vehicles, but are taking cars by violent means, as carjackings are also on the rise in Peel and throughout Ontario.

As part of its ongoing efforts to combat car thieves, Peel Regional Police hosted two major anti-car theft conferences in Mississauga earlier this year.

In May, law enforcement officials from across North America and other groups affected by the increase in auto thefts gathered for four days at the Mississauga Convention Center for the 51st Annual Vehicle Crime Conference.

Two months earlier, in March, police met with members of the auto and auto insurance industries at a summit at the Hyatt Mississauga hotel attended by more than 150 participants.

Those at Second Annual Peel Police Auto Theft Summit I’ve heard that everyone involved needs to up their game and work together if they want to keep the rapidly growing problem of car theft from spiraling out of control.

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