Thank you very much. I certainly appreciate the opportunity to meet with you today via teleconference. I have to admit that, unfortunately, my ability to prepare for today's session is a little limited, but I'd be more than happy to answer any questions or to correspond, not only today but at a future date.
In terms of the Winnipeg perspective, I think I want to highlight how the situation here is definitely not without significant impact in terms of victimization. By way of background, I can indicate to you that we've had in 2007 and 2008 an individual who was seriously injured as a result of a deliberate attempt by auto thieves to run down joggers in a well-known jogging location. As well, we've had three other traffic fatalities where auto thieves were deliberately operating large vehicles in a menacing manner. There was no police chase. It was simply a smash-up derby on our streets, and three people lost their lives as a result.
I can also indicate to you that in the past three years we've had numerous occasions where officers have been deliberately rammed or attempted to be struck while on foot. These officers were attempting to intervene in stolen vehicle events. In Winnipeg, this is a definitive safety issue, not only for our officers but for public safety overall.
In terms of what's happened as far as combatting auto theft in Winnipeg, there are some particular frustrations that I think this legislation may certainly address. Auto theft is looked at primarily as a property crime, as I'm sure you're aware, equivalent to stealing a similar value of other goods. The difficulty with that, of course, is that with the emphasis on discouraging violent crime, property crime has sort of taken a back seat in that area. In Winnipeg, we found a very egregious example. One particular offender, who, between stealing cars, was being released on bail and in breaching those bail conditions, was arrested no less than 40 times before being incarcerated for auto theft-related offences or offences related to release on bail.
A study was done by our auto theft unit. Fifty of the top auto thieves in Winnipeg were identified and then were tracked with respect to their release conditions or their release status and the number of auto thefts in Winnipeg. I can tell you that when more than 40% of those top 50 offenders were on the streets, auto thefts rose by at least 20% or more. In terms of costs alone, with respect to damage to those vehicles—this is not the cost of medical treatment for those who are injured or the cost of investigation, it is simply the cost of recovery for the damage of those automobiles--in one year it was somewhere in the neighbourhood of $5.5 million.
The difficulty for us was, is, and still remains to this day, because of the consideration of auto theft as a property crime, keeping these top-level offenders incarcerated. As soon as they're out on the streets, that's when auto thefts again begin to rise.
An additional difficulty, of course, is that in many cases auto thieves are merely providing a vehicle for others to commit other crimes. Stolen autos are used in a variety of different offences, such as robberies and other gang retaliation types of occurrences here in Winnipeg. It's very dangerous not only for the public, but for our officers. Winnipeg, I believe, tends to be, perhaps, at the point of a spear here. What we notice now is that our offenders are certainly not immune from providing others the instruction to carry out auto thefts in other jurisdictions.
We feel that given the fact that a very heavy vehicle can be operated at very high speeds, it's not unlike the potential danger of a firearm. What we are asking parliamentarians, and you specifically, to consider is providing significant deterrents so that we can essentially—once we have established individuals as chronic auto thieves—keep them in custody so we can keep these types of crimes and threats to our streets at a minimum.
The difficulty is that in the current atmosphere it becomes almost a revolving door type of scenario. It's frustrating to our officers. It's very intensive to monitor these thieves.
We are asking you to support the proposed legislation to ensure there is significant deterrence and significant custody attached to stealing what is tantamount to a weapon if operated in a menacing fashion.
Thank you very much. I am more than willing to entertain questions.