7,200 car thefts last year in Mississauga and Brampton [Video]

Peel police have been battling a dramatic increase in organized auto theft the past five years and their police chief has described the widespread crime as “an epidemic across many jurisdictions in Ontario,” but at least one recent number appears to be trending in the right direction as far as local law enforcement is concerned.

Figures from the Peel Regional Police 2024 Annual Report show after several years of significant increases in number of car thefts in Mississauga and Brampton, the number of occurrences dropped from 8,322 in 2023 to 7,231 last year.

The latter figure, a drop of 1,091 from the 2023 high, is still well more than double the number of car thefts from 2020 (3,376), previous annual reports from Peel police show.

By further comparison, the number of car thefts in Peel’s two cities was 4,119 in 2021 and 6,065 in 2022, according to police crime statistics.

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