Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing before the committee. My questions are for the Peel police.
Deputy, it's nice to see you.
First of all, I obviously want to extend a big thank you to the Peel police for all the service they provide to the community.
I'll turn to the topic of auto theft. This is testimony from you, Deputy. Vehicle thefts in Peel have increased 118% over the last five years. In most regions, I think it's a double-digit increase, but in Peel it's a triple-digit increase.
Broken down by Mississauga's 11 wards.... Ward 5, which is actually home to Pearson airport, overlaps largely with my riding of Mississauga—Malton. This region saw the most auto thefts by far in 2023, with 1,030. Ward 5 accounted for 42.2% of all auto thefts that occurred in Mississauga. This is one ward of 11. The remaining 10 wards saw fewer than 200 auto thefts. There's really a focus in my region of Mississauga—Malton, unfortunately.
In your testimony and in some of your answers, you talked about the organized crime angle. One of my questions is about this. There's definitely been a recruitment of youth and young adults into organized crime to do these crimes. Youth accounted for 21 of the 49 people facing charges in 2023. This is actually a quote from you.
What is the Peel police doing to target this?