Skip to content

Vehicle thefts in the Nickel City: The numbers might surprise you

Over the past six weeks, there have been 46 stolen vehicles
20016-04-07 police line stock
(Stock)

Sudbury has one of the lowest crime rates of any large Canadian city and the numbers show it to be one of the safest cities in both Northern Ontario and the entire country.

But that doesn't mean crime doesn't happen in the Nickel City. It does. 

And that came into sharper focus this week after Sudbury.com asked Greater Sudbury Police Service for information related to recent vehicle thefts. 

The stats Dunn provided might surprise you.

Greater Sudbury Police spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn told us that in a six-week span — from July 2 to Aug. 12 — there have been 224 thefts from vehicles and 46 stolen vehicles reported.

In approximately 31 of the stolen vehicle occurrences (67 per cent), keys were either left inside the vehicle or were used by the person to steal the vehicle.

In 199 of the thefts from vehicles (89 per cent), the vehicle was either left unsecured or unlocked, showed no signs of forced entry, or involved the theft of a license plate. 

Following is the top three areas of the city for number of stolen vehicles in that time frame:

  1.  West End: – 7 occurrences
  2.  New Sudbury areas of Attlee/Hawthorne: 6 occurrences
  3.  Bancroft areas between Fourth and Moonlight: 5 occurrences

The top five areas of the city for theft from vehicles are:

  1.  New Sudbury areas of (Grandview/Montrose/Woodbine), (Attlee/Beatrice), (Gemmell/Auger): 52 occurrence
  2.  Riverside/Wembley/Boland/York areas: 25 occurrences
  3.  Downtown core: 25 occurrences
  4.  Lively: 11 occurrences
  5.  Burton/Jean area: 6 occurrences.

According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, a car is stolen in this country every seven minutes.

The bureau's top 10 tips to prevent vehicles theft are:

  1.  Always locking the vehicle when it's unattended.
  2.  Close windows and sunroof when the vehicle is unattended.
  3.  Don't leave the vehicle running.
  4.  Park in well-lit areas.
  5.  If you park in a lot, park in different places every time.
  6.  Always take your keys with you.
  7.  Don't leave anything of value in the vehicle.
  8.  If you have a garage, use it, and make sure to lock it and your vehicle.
  9.  Don't leave you keys by the front door when you're home. Put them in a safe place away from windows and doors.
  10.  Don't leave your ownership and/or insurance papers in the vehicle.