Recoveries of stolen vehicles on the rise in Oakville, Milton, Burlington
Published April 16, 2024 at 3:08 pm
A program that has been around about a year has resulted in a large spike in stolen vehicle recoveries in Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills.
Halton Regional Police Service credits Project Oxygen and third-party tracking devices for the increase.
Project Oxygen was launched last May as a partnership between the HRPS and local auto dealerships, encouraging residents to place third-party trackers (such as an Apple Air Tag, Tile, Galaxy Smart Tag or Atuvos) in well-hidden locations within their vehicles.
Tracker tools utilize technology to relay the location of a stolen vehicle to its rightful owner. Armed with this information, police are in a better position to recover the vehicle and make arrests.
The key to success is the location of the aftermarket tracker in the automobile. While a thief may become aware of the presence of an aftermarket tracker, a well-hidden device or one placed in a difficult location to access, may give police valuable time to locate the stolen vehicle or cause the thieves to abandon the stolen vehicle.
In order to build momentum and showcase the value of a well-hidden aftermarket tracker, the project team connected directly with the following dealerships who agreed to install an aftermarket tracker:
Videos
- Budds’ Chevrolet Cadillac Buick GMC
- Budds’ Imported Cars Jaguar Land Rover
- Lexus of Oakville
- Oakville Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
- Milton Chrysler Dodge Limited
- Milton Toyota
- South Oakville Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
- Oakville Honda
- Oakville Toyota
- Powerhouse of Milton
- Wallace Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, GMC (Milton)
- Leggat Chevrolet Cadillac Buick GMC (Burlington)
“As a result of Project Oxygen, 285 third-party tracking devices were installed at local Halton Region dealerships and 86 vehicles, with a value of approximately $6.4 million, were recovered via the use of third-party tracking devices,” said an HRPS spokesperson.
“This represents an increase of 350 percent when compared to 2022 vehicle recoveries. As the HRPS continues to focus its efforts to curb auto theft, Project Oxygen is set to continue into 2024.”
The HRPS is allocating significant resources to investigate auto theft occurrences.
You are asked to call 9-1-1 if you witness a crime in progress or if you see suspicious persons/vehicles in your neighbourhood.
Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or at the website.
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising