Toronto PD Tell Residents to Leave Their Keys Near the Door Amid Uptick in Car Thefts

How do you solve rising car thefts? Obviously, the answer to this question is a bit complicated.

Theft stems largely from poverty and a lack of resources, so helping resolve some of those issues will doubtlessly do wonders to help lower crime. However, even with all the social safety nets in place that your heart desires, there will always be people nicking wallets, doing smash-and-grabs and becoming KIA boys.

Given this, Toronto PD has offered an innovative new approach: Make it easier for people to steal your car.

In fairness to them, there’s a bit more nuance to what they’re saying than simply “hand your car over to anyone who wants it.” To summarize, police say there’s been a rise in break-ins associated with people trying to steal cars. Thieves break into a house, find your car keys, then drive off with your vehicle, often leaving other parts of the house untouched.

To minimize the risk of danger to residents, local police are telling people to leave their keys near the door, making it less likely that a thief will roam your house looking for them (and consequently putting you in danger). This is in addition to a larger campaign that involves providing residents with guards that make their doors harder to kick in and offering additional information on how to prevent theft.

Of course, that’s not how this idea has been metabolized. Instead, people are seeing it as an instruction from the police that they should roll over for the criminals, allowing them to feast upon their soft, white underbelly before driving away in their new Honda Civic.

Is what they’re saying good advice? I have no idea, but I definitely agree with residents that this feels more like “throwing your hands in the air” than actually solving the problem.

Maybe the real trick is getting a car that nobody will want to steal.