Project Stallion: The Arrest and Quick Release of Violent Car Thieves
By Alex Wu
In recent years, the GTA has been plagued by an increasing amount of violent carjackings, leaving many citizens feeling unsafe in their own vehicles. To combat this alarming trend, the Toronto Police Service announced “Project Stallion,” a city-wide initiative to stop car thieves. Astonishingly, over 1 000 stolen vehicles worth almost $60 million were recovered. While certainly a step in the right direction, the project may have been ineffective at deterring thieves and preventing repeat offenders.
Despite the significant number of people arrested, only 228 out of 553 people are facing criminal charges, raising serious concern about the legal significance attributed by the government to this crime. 325 thieves were released without jail time. Legislation like Bill C-75 allows repeat offenders to be released hours after their arrest, even if they have committed violent crimes, leading Conservatives to refer to these policies as “catch-and-release programs”.
CTV News Image of a GTA car theft
Critics of the Liberal government attribute the sharp increase in car thefts to this policy of releasing criminals without jail time. Since Justin Trudeau’s election in 2015, car thefts in Toronto have had an increase of an astounding 300%, and an equally frightening 100% in Montreal. This raises the question: how much of Project Stallion’s effort is purely reactionary to lenient bail policies?
Carjackings affect more than just the victims: it causes car insurance to rise, decreases the overall safety of the streets, and funds organized crime globally. Celyeste Power, President of the Insurance Board of Canada, says that more than 50% of Canadian stolen cars are exported. Many of these cars end up in countries where there are no means of retrieving them, such as Ghana or Nigeria. Sam Riches of the National Post reports that more than $1 billion worth of stolen cars are exported from Canada each year, but only 1% are ever recovered. This shows that car theft is no longer an imprecise crime, but an organized business funding criminal operations globally. With the justice system’s current leniency, MP Hoback refers to carjacking as a “get-rich-quick scheme for violent criminals and gangs.”
A summit was held earlier this month on carjacking, were most agreed that there needed to be immediate action, especially with stolen cars being exported. "We're convening this summit because Canadians need serious action," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Justin Trudeau’s government has had eight years to take serious action, but carjackings continued to rise throughout his leadership. The Conservative Party argues for a change in leadership and ideology to achieve progress on the issue of rampant car thefts. They argue for a “common sense solution,” to have mandatory minimum penalties (MMPs) for violent criminal offences. The Party seeks to accomplish this by implementing Bill C-379, which will require a minimum of three years in jail for three-time offenders. Some legal experts have opined that a Conservative government will struggle with implementing MMPs, as Canada’s Supreme Court becomes increasingly hawkish towards mandatory minimums.
Sources and further reading:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REOUlHT5xYw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMiZT-0Efag
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/car-theft-trudeau-poilievre-leblanc-1.7110762
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buBiQliTLuE
