Organized groups responsible for 1/5 of car thefts

About one in every five motor vehicle thefts in Canada are committed by organized groups, suggests StatsCan.Statscan bases this figure on the number of vehicles reported stolen but never recovered, with the government statistics collector citing law enforcement use of such data. Police note that vehicles stolen for other reasons joy-riding, transportation or to commit further crime are generally abandoned and later recovered. Organized crime groups, on the other hand, will strip a vehicle of all identifying factors and transport it elsewhere (in many cases, overseas), or strip it to sell the parts.Using 2002 data from 22 large police services, StatsCan concludes that one-fifth of the 161,000 thefts in 2002 were likely committed by organized groups. The problem may be most prevalent in Montreal, where only 56% of stolen vehicles are recovered. In fact, overall Quebec has the highest non-recovery rates. London and Toronto, Ontario were also on the high end of the scale.Winnipeg, Victoria and Regina were among the lowest non-recovery rates in Canada.The most likely targets for organized groups may be private homes and car dealerships more than one-third of stolen from these places were not recovered. This compares with a 10% non-recovery rate for vehicles stolen off the street and 15% for parking lots. StatsCan suggests this may be the result of organized thieves targeting high-value vehicles from specific locations.StatsCan notes that vehicle theft numbers actually dropped in 2002, by 5%.