Outage over Toronto Police’s ‘Bizarre’ Response on Upsurged Car Thefts

Subhashree Panda
Outage over Toronto Police's 'Bizarre' Response on Upsurged Car Thefts

As the statistics of car thefts occurring in Canada show an uptrend in the Greater Toronto Area, the Toronto Police issued a bizarre idea.

The police urged the residents of the area to “their car keys outside their homes.”

Thus, in the wake of this, Toronto Police in Canada is currently witnessing a flood of criticism online for issuing a “shrug emoji” response, as per online netizens.

Currently, the Greater Toronto Area is on high alert after auto theft was linked to several home invasions, reported New York Post.

However, to avoid potential violent brawls, the Toronto police also advised the Canadians to give their car keys to thieves preemptively.

As the number of cases of thieves breaking into homes and stealing cars has risen over time, police issued such a weird tip.

According to WION, statistics show that the number of Car thefts in GTA increased by approximately 25% last year. In fact, in 2023, home break-ins for auto theft skyrocketed to 400%.

At an Etobicoke safety meeting that occurred last month,

Marco Ricciardi, a Toronto Police Constable’s advice to residents became the talk of the town.

Times Now reported that Marco advised residents of certain ways to reduce the risk of violent confrontations by leaving their bunch of keys in a “Faraday pouch (a special bag that blocks electromagnetic signals) for thieves at the front door.”

Marco Ricciardi added,

“While well-meaning, there are also other ways to prevent auto theft-motivated home invasions. To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your fobs at the front door because they are breaking into your home to steal your car; they don’t want anything else.”

Furthermore, a Toronto Police Constable said,

“A lot of them that they’re arresting have guns on them and they are not toy guns. They are real guns. They’re loaded.”

According to City News, this problem of car theft has become so bad that York Regional Police, a Canadian law enforcement agency “has even begun handing out doorstops to residents to help prevent thieves from kicking open their door to steal key fobs.”

As these statements were released, they spread all over social media on Thursday resulting in a flood of thousands of tweets in anger and frustration.

Some of the top tweets are embedded below.

https://twitter.com/Bamaphaunt/status/1768262504885403846?t=ovpzMzRlLOpls0vzCEcvng&s=19

Also Read: Major Victory for Human Rights: Hindu Communities in Canada, US, UK Applaud Implementation of CAA

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