ADDICTION BREEDS A NEW KIND OF CAR THIEF

They Are Bold, Violent And Driven By Drugs

VANCOUVER -- He has a long list of prior convictions, he's addicted to
crystal meth and he doesn't care if innocent drivers or pedestrians
get in his way.

Greater Vancouver has the reputation of being a region in which car
thieves are also often killers, and police say drugs are the reason.
In Ontario and Quebec, vehicles are more often being stolen to ship
outside the country or for parts.

Just this week, Coquitlam pastor Joseph Chan was killed when the
driver of a stolen SUV ran a stop sign and slammed into his car. A
23-year-old has been charged with dangerous driving causing death and
possession of stolen property over $5,000.

In Maple Ridge last month, gas station attendant Grant De Patie was
dragged to death after he tried to stop the driver of a stolen vehicle
from stealing $12.30 worth of gas. A 16-year-old has been charged with
second-degree murder.

Statistics compiled from the RCMP's Integrated Municipal Provincial
Auto Crime Team (IMPACT) show the average car thief in the Greater
Vancouver area is a 28-year-old Caucasian male with a lengthy criminal
record, including drug offences, that began in his teens. The car
thief is motivated by a drug addiction, crystal meth being the most
common. The vehicle helps get the addict to businesses and homes,
where he can steal items to sell for drugs.

The vehicle recovery rate for stolen cars in the Lower Mainland is 94
per cent, which police say adds weight to the theory that the cars are
being used to commit other crimes. In Ontario and Quebec, the recovery
rate is 56 per cent. "Auto theft in B.C. is different than any other
province because of this factor of the typical drug-addicted male,"
said Sergeant Rick Stewart with IMPACT.

"They're going after the cars to get the drugs and the drugs that are
in their system make them more brazen, more goal-oriented and they
become very aggressive and more violent than car thieves elsewhere.
They will do anything to get what they want and they won't let
anything get in their way."

Unlike other areas, where car thieves may be using the vehicle for a
few hours, or to spirit away to chop shops, Sgt. Stewart said thieves
in the Lower Mainland are using cars to commit more serious crimes.

One study conducted by the National Committee to Reduce Auto Thefts
found that between 1999 and 2001, 81 people were killed in accidents
linked to stolen vehicles. A new report is currently being compiled,
but the last study's yearly average of 20 to 30 people killed is
expected to be higher now.

Barry Ward, director of the committee and auto-crime project manager
with Manitoba Public Insurance, said the increased use of drugs like
crystal meth have given rise to a new kind of car thief with a
different agenda.

"Their motives are different. In B.C., and increasingly we're seeing
in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the cars are being taken to
support drug habits. But you go past Thunder Bay and into Ontario and
you get into organized crime where the car is taken and disappears of
the face of the Earth," Mr. Ward said.

Despite the range of reasons as to why cars are stolen, the rising
toll on human life stretches across the country.

In November, Kibbee Cyr of Edmonton called her husband to say she was
heading home.

Ten minutes later she was killed, her car hit by a stolen one swerving
around other cars and a police spike belt. In September, a woman
driving a stolen truck raced through an intersection in Jasper, Alta.,
and killed a Toronto tourist.

Public outrage after the death of Theresa McEvoy of Halifax, who was
killed when struck by a stolen car, led the Nova Scotia Justice
Minister to call for a toughening of the Criminal Code and the Youth
Justice Act.

In January, provincial justice ministers agreed to consider making car
theft, now considered possession of property more than $5,000, a more
serious offence.

Insurance investigators and police officers have recognized that auto
theft is becoming an increasingly serious crime, said Bill Cameron,
national director of auto theft for the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

"We are seeing some changes, but for a long time, the justice system
didn't treat auto theft as a serious crime. Penalties were minimal to
non-existent," he said. "In any other property crime, if you were to
steal $100,000 worth of jewellery, for example, you would go to jail."

Each year, auto theft costs consumers $1-billion, of which
$600-million is paid by insurance companies and a minimum of $43 is
directly added to the cost of policies.