A Toronto-area man says he’s confused how his car was stolen from his driveway and fined twice without raising any red flags.
Danny Latincic says he noticed his car was missing when he went to leave his home in Oakville, Ont., last fall on Oct. 10.
Latincic says he immediately reported the theft to Halton Regional Police and provided security footage showing thieves breaking in and driving off in his 2018 Lexus RX350 earlier that morning.
He says he also reported the vehicle stolen to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation the next day.
But after the vehicle was reported stolen, Latincic doesn’t understand why alarm bells didn’t go off when he received parking violation tickets on Oct. 11 and Oct. 19 from the City of Mississauga. And it frustrates him that there isn’t more exchange of information between the various authorities, including police agencies, MTOs and municipalities that enforce parking laws.
“To think that he’s out there getting parking tickets from a legitimate authority just blows my mind,” Latincic said.
The City ticker app does not interact with the police database
Vehicles reported stolen are listed in the Canadian Police Information Center (CPIC), a central police database maintained by the RCMP.
This system is publicly available, meaning anyone can enter vehicle information online to see if that vehicle has been reported as stolen.
However, a City of Mississauga representative said no red flags appear in their system when a bylaw officer enters a license plate number when issuing a ticket for a stolen vehicle. Danny Latincic received two parking tickets after his vehicle was stolen from his Oakville residence. (Submitted by Danny Latincic)
“The ticketing application does not interact with CPIC,” the city said, adding that it does not have the resources to enter vehicle information for every parking violation issued in Mississauga.
The red flags only appear when a stolen vehicle is being towed because it requires a permit from Peel Regional Police, the city said. Only in these cases will a Peel police officer advise if the vehicle has been stolen and attend the scene, the release said.
Peel Regional Police say bylaw officers typically don’t contact police when they’re simply issuing bylaw violations.
“If we are bound by a by-law [officers] or the public in relation to a stolen vehicle investigation or other matters that warrant a CPIC check, we will do so to assist the investigation,” Peel Police Superintendent Mandeep Khatra said.
CBC Toronto asked the RCMP if it would be beneficial for CPIC to communicate with ticketing authorities to help recover stolen vehicles left in public, but did not receive a response. CBC Marketplace investigators located stolen vehicles from Ontario and Quebec in Lagos, Nigeria. This 2018 Lexus RX was sold by a dealership in the Niagara area. (CBC)
It would make sense for ticketing authorities to have access to stolen vehicle information and databases so ticket sellers can alert authorities when they try to ticket a stolen vehicle, says Brian Gast, vice president of investigations services at the Equity Association, an organization working to reduce insurance fraud and crime.
“If they can identify a vehicle as stolen and then call the police, that would certainly be helpful.”
Gast says car thieves will leave a car in a public place to make sure it isn’t tracked by GPS during what’s known as a “cooling off period,” which could explain why Latincic’s car was left in many places in Mississauga .
You can’t be too careful, experts say
As for Latincic, while he received the tickets issued to his vehicle in the mail, he was not forced to pay them.
And while his car was eventually replaced by his insurance company, Latincic believes it could have been recovered if ticket officials had known it was stolen.
Now, he says, he is taking no more chances.
“I’m locking my garage tracks. I have a GPS on my car. I have the club. I have an OBD port protector,” Latincic says, adding that there are also multiple alarms.
Industry experts say it’s a good idea to be overly cautious with vehicle theft protection. In Toronto alone, more than 8,000 vehicles were reported stolen in 2022. This number is up from around 5,600 stolen vehicles in 2021.
Still, Gast says the sophistication and availability of technology has allowed organized crime networks to steal and ship more vehicles, with Canada continuing to be a “source country.”
“It’s an organized network not just for supply and demand, but for actually stealing and then taking these vehicles out of the country.
Add Comment