The rise and fall of car theft numbers in Sudbury seem to point to a cat and mouse game between vehicle manufacturers and thieves.
The data, when graphed, is essentially a roller coaster.
The number of vehicles stolen in Sudbury (meaning the owner has given up the vehicle as permanently gone — not just a joyride) comes from data obtained by Sudbury.com’s parent company, Village Media. In combination with data earlier obtained by Village, it allows for a portrait of auto theft in Ontario, with all its ups and downs, from 2004 to 2023.
The data shows that in almost two decades, 1,637 passenger vehicles in Sudbury are considered gone for good.
Stolen vehicles in Ontario
In the most recent statistics provided by Patrick Cain and Sneh Duggal of Village Media’s The Trillium, some 40,510 vehicles of all types were registered as stolen in Ontario between November of 2021 and January of 2024, according to the Ministry of Transportation.
That comes to just over 50 a day.
The problem has added $130 a year to the average Ontario driver's auto insurance, with extra surcharges for drivers who own cars and trucks that are most desirable to thieves.
Overall, vehicle thefts fell in Ontario in the early 2000s, driven largely by the introduction of immobilizers, which, in theory, mean that a car can only be started with a key fob issued by the manufacturer.
But then, the fobs were fooled when thieves figured out how to copy the electronic information.
Again, the numbers began to climb. The same thing happened in Sudbury.
Sudbury proper
If you’re in New Sudbury, the last two years have held some high numbers, but not as bad as in 2004, when 21 cars were stolen from the area under the P3A postal code prefix.
The area’s number of stolen vehicles remained in the double digits, but for 2005 and 2010, when they went as low as eight and seven, respectively.
There is a dip in the numbers, but in the later 2000s, from 2012 to 2018, with the annual tally going as low as two in 2015. It was also low in 2020, falling from 13 in 2019 to six in the pandemic year, but then right back up to 18 in 2021.
All told, the P3A postal code prefix had 183 vehicles gone for good in the almost 20-year span.
For downtown and Minnow Lake, under the P3B prefix, the year 2004 shows 13 cars permanently gone. That shot up in 2005, hitting 23, before settling back down to 13 and going even lower in the following years, with the lowest at four in 2008.
Hanging around the singles for a bit, the number then shoots up in 2011, to 12, but doesn’t increase again until 2018, and most significantly in 2022, when 23 cars were registered stolen. It settled to 18 in 2023.
That means P3B had a total of 213 stolen vehicles between 2004 and 2023.
In Gatchell and the West End, the P3C prefix, an average of 19 vehicles were stolen for good between 2004 and 2009. A dip began in 2010, and the number of stolen vehicles continued in single digits until 2018, when they began to climb, reaching 28 at their height in 2022.
In this area, 270 vehicles were stolen during the almost 20-year period Sudbury.com measured.
Residents in the Robinson and Lockerby areas, those that carry the P3E prefix, faced numerous thefts in 2004, but that number started to drop quickly, moving from 23 in 2005 to 13 in 2006.
In 2021, there were nine cars stolen, 13 the year before. But in 2022, that number shoots to 31, only dropping slightly to 26 in 2023.
From 2004 to 2023, 255 cars in P3E were considered gone for good.
The P3G area, which is the Lo-Ellen/McFarlane area of Sudbury, did not have many stolen vehicles, with only 22 total over the two-decade period. In fact, the lowest number per year was one, the highest was two.
Garson (P3L), Val Caron (P3N), Hanmer (P3P), Lively (P3Y) also have fairly low numbers in the data set. Garson’s total was 56, with the peak in 2022 at 10 vehicles, Val Caron had a peak in 2004 with nine cars, but then, the numbers decrease, with an average of five or fewer cars stolen, even recently. The total number of cars stolen in the area over the years is 54.
Hanmer’s total number of cars stolen is 98, recorded between 2004 and 2023. The highest numbers are in the past two years, with 14 in 2022, and 10 in 2023.
Lively does not live up to its name when it comes to car theft, as the total for the area is a low 54. The highest numbers are in 2005 and 2006, but really, high may not be the best word, as the Lively-area’s annual totals never exceed 8.
Sudbury’s Districts
The P0M prefix includes a wide swath of Sudbury and Algoma districts, so these numbers are not as indicative of the theft issue in the more urban parts of Sudbury. The P0M prefix includes everything from Coniston, Chelmsford and Copper Cliff to Wahnapitae and Capreol, as well as Naughton and Dowling.
But also, Cartier, Alban, Monetville, Killarney, Levack, Onaping, Worthington, Biscotasing, Chapleau and Gogama. Also Mobert, Foleyet, Missanabie and Markstay.
And so many more.
The number of stolen cars in these areas tops 384 in the course of the 20-year data set. There are peaks and valleys that come on an annual basis, with the number of stolen cars cut in half some years and doubled in others. However, the most notable feature is the number of vehicles stolen in 2022 and 2023, which are 47 and 44, respectively. These are the highest numbers in the area by far, with the next highest at 34, in 2005.
The cat and mouse game
The Trillium's analysis of stolen vehicles in the province comes in advance of a national summit on auto thefts in early February that focused on the exporting of stolen vehicles.
The Feb. 8 summit was meant to bring together politicians and stakeholders including police services. The Ontario government is renewing its call to its federal counterparts for more inspections at ports and rail yards and a review of the Criminal Code to tackle violent vehicle theft.
Of course, the thieves are also getting organized, and bolder. A recent rash of thefts in the Toronto area are thanks to thieves looking for vehicles that are left unlocked in their driveways — often by simply checking for cars that have their automatic side view mirrors extended. They open the vehicle, hit the garage door opener, and move inside the house. They steal the owner’s keys, and key fob, start the car, and simply drive away.
We’ll see what the numbers are like in the next few years.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com.
