Toronto, Ontario — The Ontario government recently tabled a budget on March 26th that included $49 million dollars to help stop growing incidents of auto theft in the province.
The funds will be spread across a three-year period and will be put towards stopping theft in high risk areas such as in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Notably, the investment will, in part, go toward the Ontario Provincial Police’s (OPP) auto theft team and the province’s Major Auto Theft Prosecution Response team which provides dedicated support to the OPP to prepare and prosecute complex cases.
The funding will also continue to support the Greater Toronto Area-Greater Golden Horseshoe Investigative Fund, which was created to help stop the illegal export of stolen vehicles and target violent crimes linked to criminal organizations.
“We are supporting increased crime fighting measures to support prevention and detection of auto theft,” the budget reads.
OPP Deputy Commissioner Marty Kearns said during the week of March 18th that the number of recent car thefts in Ontario was unprecedented, with reports of nearly 3,000 vehicles reported stolen in the past seven weeks.
