Incidents of auto vandalism, first reported Feb. 8 on The Cabbagetowner post Auto vandalism investigation continues, have continued in our neighbourhood, with the latest reports coming from Sumach and Geneva streets.
The following breakdown and plotting of occurrences were provided today by Toronto Police Services 51 Division. Apologies for the poor /small quality of the map, but it does show the concentration of occurences, with 45 reported.
“There is no reasonable time frame for these occurrences, only that the overwhelming majority are occuring overnight after the vehicles have been parked for the night,” says Detective Sergeant Scott Spratt, who is in charge of the investigation. “At this point, there is no suspect information available.” Occurrences have happened on every night of the week, although there is a higher concentration on Tuesdays.
The CRA is recommending that, if you have security cameras at your property, please point them toward the street overnight. If you see anything suspicious when you review the footage, please submit to Toronto Police 51 Division, using this wetransfer link D51.wetransfer.com.
Advice on how to package the video and information you should include: the “GO#” is the incident number for a crime report. If you have not filed a report because you have not been personally affected, indicate this if footage related to Cabbagetown auto vandalism.
Once uploaded, an email is sent automatically to the criminal investigation unit (CISU), then CISU processes the video and/or loads smaller clips directly into the occurrence file, which goes to the assigned investigator.
CRA volunteers have heard that some neighbours have experienced minor acts of vandalism (such as letting air out of a tire) that they have not reported because it did not seem worth it at the time: however, the more reports police have, the better they are able to track patterns and investigate. If you have not reported auto vandalism from 2018, please do so now. Police ask that you use this online reporting tool: http://www.torontopolice.on.
PC Kim Kelly and PC Sean Imrie are reviewing the videos and assisting: they can be reached at 416-808-5108.
Everyone should be vigilant about checking their car tires before starting up their vehicles: one resident reported that tires in that instance were not slashed or damaged, but air had been let out; the flats were not noticed before driving away, resulting in expensive damage to the wheels.
4 replies on “Feb. 15 update on auto vandalism in Cabbagetown”
Though not officially Cabbagetown and therefore not included in these statistics, most vehicles on Aberdeen Avenue (just across the street) have had tires slashed in the past few days. It’s a bigger problem than these numbers indicate.
I live on Amelia St on tues night my rear right tire was punctured using some type of tool that is making a pin hole in the sidewall. I have reported it on line along with 6 other neighbours. I believe the numbers are doubled due to the fact that people tend not to notice the right side of there cars. I myself have notified 4 other neighbours to the fact that there rear right tires are way down. I am loosing 15 to 20 lbs. a day.300 bucks a pop and the fact that 2 thirds have not been reported makes this a major property damage in the tens of thousands of dollars. this is completely out of control. The Bird
I have had two incidents on Winchester Street – January 24 and February 5.
2008 Porsche Cayenne, two separate incidents of tires flat.
Make sure those incidents are reported to 51 Division – the build-up of reporting has been crucial to addressing this issue.