Toronto police seeing an uptick in car thefts at 3 Scarborough GO station parking lots

Steve Ryan speaks with Kirk O'Brian of the West Rouge Community Association about the thefts, and what needs to be done to improve safety in Metrolinx lots.

Toronto police say they’ve stepped up patrols of both uniform and plainclothes officers at three GO Stations in Scarborough following a recent increase in vehicle thefts in their parking lots.

The affected stations—Eglinton, Guildwood, and Rouge Hill—are all located within 43 Division.

Const. Stephanie Micelo told CP24 officers have been “making arrests in relation to these thefts,” adding the local police division, which is bounded by Highway 401 to the south, Pickering Town Line/Rouge River to the east, Steeles Avenue East to the north, and Victoria Park Avenue to the west, is “working in collaboration with Metrolinx on how to improve security.”

In a statement, the provincial transportation agency said it takes a “system-wide approach” to addressing safety and security on its network, including at its GO stations.

“Our parking lots, stations, and structures are primarily patrolled by our Customer Protective Officers (CPO) with front-line GO members providing additional support in addition to our comprehensive CCTV system,” a Metrolinx spokesperson wrote in an email to CTV News Toronto.

The agency is reminding people who park their vehicles in GO Station lots to close all windows and lock all doors; use their anti-theft devices, like a car alarm or steering wheel lock, if they have them; and keep their valuables out of sight, including loose change, GPS devices, phones, etc.

Metrolinx added that its CPOs work directly with local police to assist with their investigations when asked.

‘The anxiety level is high’: community group

Kirk O’Brien, the director of safety and crime prevention for the West Rouge Community Association, spoke with CP24 on Thursday afternoon, saying his group contacted Metrolinx in writing after learning that 16 vehicles had been reported stolen from the Rouge Hill lot since January.

O’Brien said one of the things his association does is monitor safety and claimed auto thefts at Rough Hill GO Station represent a 400 per cent uptick since this time last year.

“We drafted the letter because the anxiety level is high,” he shared, adding members of his group as well as other transit users “need to be able to feel safe and confident that they can ride and leave their vehicles and be there when they return.”

He said they haven’t seen any improvement since getting in touch with the transportation agency and are seeking further dialogue on this issue.

“We basically want to discuss with Metrolinx, as well as with the police department, what their current plans are to address this issue, and how can the community participate in that so that the residents’ anxiety goes down and we’re safer,” O’Brien said.

He added that officials would have known that auto thefts were spiking at the local GO Station and that should have been better relayed to the community.

“If the community isn’t getting information, so it’s open dialogue, and if we’re not getting data, we cannot make informed decisions, right, to decide for ourselves how to make ourselves a harder target,” O’Brien said.

CP24’s Crime Specialist Steve Ryan said surveillance cameras are in place at GO Transit parking lots, but even then they often don’t deter criminals from stealing vehicles. He added that tackling this issue may require a longer-term effort, possibly a dedicated police project.

With files from CP24’s Steve Ryan