Every Thanksgiving, Mary Chin and her family make the drive from the Boston area to Montreal to spend the Canadian holiday with extended family. Six years ago, their car was stolen. Since that incident, the family has taken a rental car for the journey as a precaution. Until this year, they decided to stop playing it safe and bring their own car again. “I said to my husband, it’s time to get back on the horse, don’t you think? Don’t you think that, you know, lightning can’t strike twice to the same people six years to the day?” Chin said. Unfortunately, around 3 a.m. Monday, they woke up to the car alarm going off. They found broken windows, the glove box had been tampered with, and their security club had been cut free from the steering wheel. According to Chin, once might have been a fluke, but a second time doesn’t feel like a coincidence. “I think they were targeting out-of-state, out-of-province plates,” she said. Montreal police (SPVM) were unable to provide statistics to back up the claim that out-of-province vehicles are more likely to be stolen, but did confirm that, generally speaking, officers have seen an increase in the amount of thefts for vehicles registered outside of Quebec. According to Andre Durocher, a former inspector with the SPVM, it’s difficult to track specific numbers for vehicles that are registered outside of the province. “There are certain types of crimes where there’s a code, let’s say, code C1234,” said Durocher. “You punch that into the computer and you get the information instantly. However, if there’s no specific code for the codes for vehicles that are stolen from out of town, that means that they would have to process the information manually.” Durocher added that so far, the total number of vehicle thefts is lower compared to last year. But for Chin, her family likely won’t be rolling the dice a third time. “We have feelings of never driving a U.S tagged plate to Canada ever again.”
