Since 2003, auto theft has decreased substantially across Canada (Wallace, 2003; Dauvergne and Turner, 2010). In fact, auto theft has had the largest rate of decline in police-reported crime trends with a decrease of 17,000 auto thefts from 2008 to 2009 (Dauvergne and Turner, 2010). Still, over the past decade, British Columbia, and in particular the city of Surrey, was listed among the jurisdictions with the highest auto theft rates in the country (Wallace, 2003). Specifically, in British Columbia, approximately 40,000 vehicles were stolen in 2003, mostly from the Greater Vancouver area (IMPACT, no date b). However, between 2003 and 2009, the number of vehicles stolen in British Columbia decreased by 55%, a decrease mainly attributed to the targeting of chronic offenders, the courts awarding harsher sentences to convicted auto thieves, and more auto theft prevention tactics employed by the makers and users of motor vehicles (IMPACT, no date c ).
