TORONTO, May 20, 2024 /CNW/ - Équité Association, the national authority on insurance crime, thanks Public Safety Canada for the comprehensive, solution-focused National Action Plan on Combatting Auto Theft announced today. The Action Plan closely aligns to recommendations, which Équité has been advocating for, on behalf of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry.

"Public Safety Canada's National Action Plan on Combatting Auto Theft represents a turning point for auto theft in Canada," said Terri O'Brien, President & CEO of Équité Association. "Insurance crime, including auto theft, is a deeply complex and multifaceted issue with real and devastating consequences for our communities. The coordinated, actionable solutions provided in today's Action Plan show a clear understanding of the current landscape and a real commitment by the federal government to take down auto theft and protect Canadians."

The National Summit on Combatting Auto Theft held on February 8, 2024, underscored the federal government's commitment to combat serious and organized crime and ensure community safety. Today's Action Plan is a continuation of that commitment through a meaningful and coordinated response, focusing on three pillars: 1) Intelligence or information sharing; 2) Intervention; and 3) Legislation, regulations and governance. Équité is especially supportive of the following measures and initiatives:

• Engage all partners in the export trade, such as port authorities, shipping lines and rail operators, to develop actionable intelligence on stolen vehicles.
• Engage foreign border services, such as the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Border Five and FRONTEX, for collaboration, best practices and technology solutions.
• Enhance customs information and intelligence sharing to support municipal and provincial police forces. Review existing legislation and regulations to identify and reduce barriers to information sharing.
• Strengthen active international cooperation with foreign law enforcement partners through the RCMP's international network.
• Establish a National Intergovernmental Working Group on Auto Theft led by Public Safety Canada with federal, provincial, and territorial governments to coordinate actions, monitor progress, and explore new initiatives that may be undertaken at all levels for a multi-faceted approach to combatting auto theft.
• Dedicating federal resources to the provincially led Auto Theft Joint Intelligence Group, with key police forces and leveraging private sector collaboration.
• Using the CISC network, to provide actionable intelligence, and the Canadian Integrated Response to Organized Crime (CIROC), to coordinate national operational approaches to organized crime, including vehicle theft.
• Provinces and territories should take steps to combat "revinning," or the use of fraudulent vehicle registrations to re-sell stolen vehicles. This could include investments to enable comprehensive data sharing across jurisdictions through the existing Interprovincial Record Exchange (IRE).

• Enhance collaboration with port authorities, rail and shipping partners to expand export cargo container examinations, including the deployment of scanning and detection technology in new locations (e.g., rail yards).
• Integrate the use of advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to better target containers with suspected stolen vehicles.

• Invest $28 million to bolster efforts in combatting auto theft, including:
• • Hiring new frontline Border Service Officers and deploying them to ports, railyards and intermodal hubs to expand examination capacity in response to intelligence developed by the CBSA and law enforcement.
  • Dedicating new resources to intelligence and targeting capabilities specific to stolen vehicles.
  • Identifying and testing new Detection Technology tools to expand capacity to screen containers for stolen vehicles.
  • Leveraging data from interdictions of stolen vehicles and use AI to predict location of suspected stolen vehicles, as well as complicit entities within the supply chain of the export of stolen vehicles.
• Develop and implement a "GPS tracking protocol" for auto theft victims to share location data of stolen vehicles with relevant authorities for safe retrieval.
• Invest $9.1 million over three years in municipal and provincial police services to improve their capacity to provide timely referrals, information and actionable intelligence to the CBSA, as well as take custody of stolen vehicles intercepted by CBSA.
• Invest $3.5 million over three years to support INTERPOL in combatting transnational organized vehicle crime.
• Through the National Crime Prevention Strategy, continue investing $51 million per year in community-based prevention initiatives for youth-at-risk for future involvement in the criminal justice system, including to prevent at-risk youth from joining gangs.
• Prioritize new project funding under the Youth Gang Prevention Fund for community-based initiatives that prevent at-risk youth form joining gangs and divert them from future involvement in criminal and anti-social activities, such as youth delinquency, auto theft, substance use and gun violence.

• Modernize the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to ensure they consider technological advancements to deter and prevent auto theft.
• Review existing legislation and regulations, such as the Customs Act, with a view to enhance compliance with export controls; increasing accountability for all partners and facility operators involved in export operations; increasing penalties for non-compliance and false reporting; befitting from international best practices; and assessing legal authorities to ensure export regulations are effective for law enforcement. 
• Introduce legislative amendments and regulations to compel rail and port operators to provide adequate accommodation for the examination for exported goods by CBSA officers.

As previously reported by Équité, a vehicle is stolen every five minutes in Canada. Canadian vehicles are targeted by criminal organizations both nationally and internationally. Organized crime groups engage in auto theft because it is an increasingly low-risk way to make profits. The majority of stolen vehicles are either exported or re-VINed and sold in order to finance and carry out other criminal activities, including gun and drug trafficking in our communities.

Équité eagerly anticipates bolstering the Action Plan by closely collaborating with insurer members, as well as national and international law enforcement agencies, government bodies, CBSA and industry partners.

Équité Association is a not-for-profit, national organization, supporting Canadian property and casualty (P&C) insurers. Équité combats the multi-billion-dollar insurance crime problem that exploits vulnerable Canadians through advanced analytics, intelligence best practices, and coordinated investigations. Delivering improved service and fraud analytics for vehicle, property, and cargo recovery to its members, Équité collaborates with law enforcement, partners and industry organizations to protect Canadians against exploitation. Learn more about Équité Association at https://www.equiteassociation.com/.

SOURCE Équité Association