Toronto police advise locals to leave car keys near front doors to avoid confrontations with violent thieves
'Home invasions and break and enters for auto theft occurrences rose 400 percent in 2023,' police say
By Gabriel Hays Fox News
Published March 15, 2024 8:06am EDT
As car thefts have spiked in Toronto, local police are prescribing new safety measures so that locals can avoid violent encounters with thieves.
One of the recent bits of advice included Toronto Police telling residents of the town of Etobicoke to leave their car key fobs near the door to avoid being attacked in their homes by potential burglars.
According to police, the number of car thefts in the city has more than doubled in recent years. In 2023, more than 12,000 vehicles were reported stolen. In 2019, just over 5,000 were reported stolen.
Thieves have begun breaking into houses to steal keys in order to steal cars, prompting controversial prevention advice from Toronto Police Constable Marco Ricciardi at an Etobicoke town hall last month, according to City News.
During the town hall, Ricciardi advised that residents leave their car keys near the front doors of their houses so that they do not have to confront violent criminals, who he noted often have "real guns."
He said at the Feb. 27 meeting, "To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your FOBs at your front door. Because they’re breaking into your home to steal your car. They don’t want anything else."
"A lot of them that they’re arresting have guns on them. And they’re not toy guns, they’re real guns. They’re loaded," he added.
Toronto Police sent out a memo clarifying these comments on Wednesday. The memo, published on the official Toronto Police Service website, also provided additional "Home Invasion Prevention Tips."
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