Thank you.
Good afternoon.
My name is Scott Wade. I am a detective inspector with the Ontario Provincial Police. I am assigned to the organized crime enforcement bureau, where I coordinate the provincial auto theft strategy, which includes the provincial auto theft and towing team.
The vehicles that we drive in Ontario have become a sought-after commodity. We have seen a dramatic increase in the value of used vehicles in this post-COVID-19 economy.
Organized crime networks have taken the opportunity to exploit the global supply and demand for vehicles and vehicle parts using profits from these thefts to finance other criminal activities such as drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, human smuggling, trafficking and international terrorism.
Organized crime groups travel interprovincially to major metropolitan regions using spotters to identify vehicles, thieves to steal them and runners to transport the vehicles to points of export. Many offenders have previous convictions for serious offences and use violent carjackings and home invasions to acquire the targeted vehicles.
We know that these vehicles are often placed in sea containers and find their way to the Port of Montreal for furtherance to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Once on our Ontario roadways, these vehicles are recklessly driven, threatening public and officer safety. When arrests are effected, the accused is often in possession of drugs, weapons, including firearms, and technological devices such as reprogrammed key fobs used to facilitate the theft of vehicles. The problem is very complicated and far from a victimless property crime.
In the OPP, we continue to work with our municipal, provincial and federal policing partners to ensure that these offenders do not go undetected. This includes intelligence sharing and active enforcement measures.
The Ministry of the Attorney General has dedicated Crown attorneys and support staff for the major auto theft prosecution response team, and we continue to work closely with them to ensure investigative excellence.
Collectively and collaboratively, we are responding to the national crisis of public and officer safety by disrupting the transnational criminal market being controlled by organized criminal networks. By working in tandem with the insurance industry, auto manufacturers and all levels of government to develop long-term solutions aimed at drastically reducing the number of vehicles being stolen, we are seeing incredible results.
As an example, the OPP has been working with the Canada Border Services Agency, our Ontario policing partners, the Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario, the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal, SPVM, and the Sûreté du Québec at the Port of Montreal as part of Project Vector, recovering over 600 stolen vehicles prior to illegal exportation.
We have successfully worked with the SPVM, the Montreal police, to arrest 34 accused in Montreal as part of Project Volcano. These accused were all wanted on outstanding arrest warrants from eastern Ontario.
Additionally, the OPP continues to facilitate Project Emissions. This intelligence probe was created as an intelligence strategy to counter the auto theft crisis by collecting and sharing information with our policing partners provincially, nationally and internationally.
We prioritize the need for safety within our communities and for our officers. We must recognize the level of violence associated with these organized crime-directed vehicle thefts. We stand with our policing partners in calling to continue strengthening our port security and monitoring mechanisms to disrupt the illegal exportation of stolen vehicles; focus on our intelligence and enforcement strategies, continuing to work collaboratively with this information; seek stronger minimum sentences for repeat offenders and the creation of offences related to possession for the purpose of trafficking and/or exporting a stolen motor vehicle; and for consideration to be given to the availability of the maximum Criminal Code penalties currently available.
Thank you.