By Erika Stark

If you live in Alta Vista or Beacon Hill-Cyrville, you might want to double check the locks on your car doors.

The two east-end Ottawa wards had the highest per capita rate of vehicle thefts in the last two years, according to crime data released by the Ottawa Police Service.

One hundred thirty-one cars, or about 28 per capita (10,000 people) were stolen in Alta Vista last year, up from 111, or 26 per capita in 2011.

In Beacon Hill-Cyrville, thieves stole 96 cars in 2012 and 84 the year before.

Across Ottawa, 1,253 cars went missing last year. In 2011, 1,122 vehicles were stolen.

“It’s a crime of opportunity,” said Erin Kelly, a communications specialist for the Canadian Automobile Association. “One thing people always need to remember is not to entice thieves and keep valuables and parcels from view.”

“These are people who are looking for a quick opportunity and it can escalate from people who are breaking in for that valuable.”

Kelly said it’s not surprising that the two wards with the highest per capita rates of vehicle theft are both partly residential.

“A lot of people remember about parking lots and what to do, parking in a well-lit area and taking your keys with you,” she said. “But if you’re at home, there’s still a great risk, especially if you live in a residential area that doesn’t have a lot of pedestrian traffic.”

Kelly said using a locked garage is the best way to prevent car thefts at home. Parking facing the street can reduce the shadows thieves use to conceal themselves, she added.

“People feel safe at home. But at nighttime, there’s a lot of dark areas and if you’re not thinking about that, your car’s just as easy a target in your driveway as it could be in a downtown parking lot.”

The Ottawa Police Service’s crime prevention sheet for vehicle owners recommends many of the same precautions Kelly offered. It also states vehicle owners should never leave their keys – even spare keys – inside their vehicles. No one from the police service was made available for comment on this story.

Elsewhere in Ottawa, thirteen wards saw year-over-year increases in thefts, including West Carleton-March, where the per capita rate nearly doubled from 2011 to 2012. Conversely, Cumberland saw its own rate almost halved, dropping from 16 per capita in 2011 to nine last year.

Last April, police charged seven people in relation to the theft of over 100 cars between May and October 2012. The organized crime ring sold the vehicles, mostly minivans, to metal recycling facilities.

The solvency rate for car thefts in 2012 was just 17 per cent according to Ottawa Police Service’s crime, police and traffic statistics report. Of the 1,253 stolen vehicles, roughly 213 were recovered.

Back in Alta Vista, community association president Tony Bernard says the high rate of vehicle thefts isn’t a widespread community concern.

“Not in the time that I’ve been there, nobody’s ever brought it up,” he said. “It certainly hasn’t come up to the organization as something that we need to take action on.”

“Crime’s always an issue, I guess,” Bernard added. “But I certainly feel that the community is safe.”

Although a 40 per cent increase in break-ins may be alarming to some, an Ottawa police sergeant says that this is simply a case of serial crime.

The number of breaking and entering cases increased by over 40 per cent in six Ottawa city wards from 2011 to 2012, according to crime statistics from the city’s open data portal.

Break-ins significantly increased in Osgoode, Stittsville-Kanata West, Kanata North, and Kitchisippi wards. The highest increase was in Gloucester-South Nepean, where break-and-enters more than doubled from the year before.

Ottawa police sergeant Kal Ghadban, who is part of the street crime and break and enter unit, said the increases had to do with “one or two specific people” who were responsible for many crimes.

“I can’t think of a time where they’re charged with only one…they’re almost always charged with several,” Ghadban said.

“It could be one or two offenders that have started in that area— that’s not to say that one area is not as safe.”

Ghadban said between 2011 and 2012, there were eight wards that drew his attention- Wards 1, 4, 6, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22.

In Ward 1 (Orléans), there was a 13.7 per cent decrease in break-ins, because police arrested a man responsible for 14 break-ins.

In Ward 4 (Kanata North), there were 30 more break-ins in 2012 than the year before: a 61 per cent increase. Ghadban said two men were arrested for more than 40 break-ins— some in this area— following a joint investigation between Ottawa and Gatineau police.  There were also 30 commercial break-ins that year, and several were in this area.

In Ward 6 (Stittsville-Kanata West), there were 15 more break-ins in 2012 than the year before, representing a 50 per cent increase. Ghadban said police arrested one suspect in the Stittsville area who was also responsible for several vehicle thefts.

Ghadban said a man was found responsible for 24 break-ins across Wards 8, 15, 17 (College, Kitchissippi, and Capital), which were the break-ins police “were able to prove.” Three others were charged in those areas, who each committed 18, 19, and 24 break-ins.

In Ward 18 (Alta Vista), there were 84 more break-ins in 2012, representing a 59% increase. Ghadban said there was new home construction in the area, and instances where people were stealing materials for construction sites and selling them to someone else. One man was charged with 11 break-ins.

“Because there’s new home construction there, it comes down to the definition of a break-in vs. a theft,” Ghadban said.

“At what point during construction does it become a home?”

Finally, in Ward 22 (Gloucester-South Nepean), where the number of break-ins went from 38 to 78, Ghadban pointed to an issue in Manotick. He said there were kids addicted to the prescription drug Fentanyl, and some were committing break-ins to supplement their addiction.

“Once we were able to get a handle on it, all of a sudden, the number came down,” he said.

Ghadban said in-home alarm or security systems are a deterrent for people who commit break-ins.

“When you talk to a lot of these prolific offenders, they will tell you if there’s indicators showing that there’s an alarm in that house, they’ll skip it and move on to somewhere else,” he said.

“There’s so many houses that have [alarm systems] and so many that don’t, so for them it’s easier to go to one that doesn’t.”

Ghadban said that in one month, the number of break-ins can go through the roof, and the rates will go down drastically once the perpetrators are caught.

“If we have break-ins in October November, December, and we don’t catch them until January, the solves don’t go until 2013, they go to 2014, because it wasn’t until 2014 that they were solved,” he said.

Canada’s recreational firearms lobby is telling the Harper government to avoid signing a landmark United Nations arms trade treaty, arguing it could lead to an insidious return of the federal long-gun registry.

That’s the message Canada’s National Firearms Association and the Canadian Shooting Sports Association are delivering to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird as he weighs whether Canada should follow the United States in signing the Arms Trade Treaty, which aims to regulate the multibillion-dollar global arms trade.

Proponents of the treaty, including Secretary of State John Kerry, who signed it earlier this month on behalf of the U.S., say it would have no impact on domestic gun owners.

Not so, says Canada’s sports shooting lobby, which has been consulting with the government.

“We think that it has the potential to raise prices on firearms, firearms accessories, parts and ammunition,” said Sheldon Clare, president of the National Firearms Association.

“We rely heavily on imports.”

The Harper government came to power in 2006 in part on a promise to scrap the long-gun registry, which was reviled by recreational shooting enthusiasts and rural gun owners. The registry was voted out existence in February 2012.

During that time, recreational firearms users have had greater access to weapons and accessories than in the previous years.

An analysis of Industry Canada data by The Canadian Press shows that imports of revolvers, pistols, rifles, shotguns, accessories and ammunition into Canada totaled $2.84 million between 2006 and 2012.

That’s almost double the nearly $1.56 million in similar imports to Canada during the previous seven years when the Liberal government was in power, from 1999 to 2005.

Total imports reached an all-time high at just over $507,000 in 2011 but then fell to $445,000 in 2012.

Tony Bernardo, head of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, said he’s worked almost two decades to oppose UN gun control efforts.

“The problems we’ve had with the gun registry – unaccountability, the incredible cost, complete ineffective uselessness – those things are not only a potential scenario, they’re a likelihood” if Canada were to sign the treaty.

The groups say that if the federal government signs the treaty it will have to create a new bureaucracy, one that could be less strict than the current rules surrounding arms imports and exports.

Bernardo said he didn’t think Baird was likely to follow the U.S. lead on the treaty any time soon.

“Minister Baird has been very thoughtful and intelligent on the Arms Trade Treaty right from Day 1,” said Bernardo.

Baird has said there is a potential link between signing on to the treaty and Canada’s now-abolished long gun registry. Baird’s spokesman said the government will take its time, and do its “homework” to ensure that the interests of Canadians are protected before deciding whether to sign on to the treaty.

“If properly done, an Arms Trade Treaty can help limit the worldwide trade in illicit arms,” said spokesman Rick Roth in an email.

“At the same time, it is important that such a treaty not affect lawful and responsible firearms owners nor discourage the transfer of firearms for recreational uses such as sport shooting and hunting.”

Baird’s office wouldn’t release the names of the individuals it is consulting.

According to an internal memo obtained by The Canadian Press, Clare and Bernardo are among 14 stakeholders that Foreign Affairs has consulted on the issue.

NDP foreign affair critic Paul Dewar accused the government of giving special interest groups preferential treatment in their consultations.

“It’s clear that the Conservatives are continuing to favour their friends in the gun lobby over good policy that will save lives,” Dewar said.

Meth possession charges in Quebec have grown at over three times the national rate, according to Statistics Canada crime data.

A total of 1,021 people were charged with methamphetamine possession in Quebec last year, accounting for over half the charges Canada-wide. Over 60 per cent of Canada’s meth trafficking charges also occurred in Quebec.

The increase can be attributed to increased production and a law enforcement crackdown, says Montreal-based criminal lawyer Zayid Al-Baghdadi.

“I certainly haven’t seen charges in the past and now I’m seeing it,” he says.

While Quebec has considerably outpaced any other province, charges for meth have been rising rapidly across Canada. There were fewer than 200 possession charges in 2008 nationwide. In 2012 that number sat just above 1,800.

“I think it’s still novel to a certain degree,” says Al-Baghdadi, whose clients include those charged with meth possession. “But there is more and more of it sort of surfacing.”

Al-Baghdadi has also noticed an increased sense of interest from the police and RCMP when it comes to tracking down meth labs in the province.

One reason Al-Baghdadi points to as a possible reason for the rise in trafficking is an ingredient contained in meth: pseudoephedrine. In Canada the substance is legal and can be bought off the shelf at any pharmacy, as opposed to the United States, where a perscription is often needed. Canada’s lack of red tape enables easier access to the products necessary for meth production.

It also means there is increased demand south of the border for Canadian-made meth, since it’s more difficult to obtain pseudoephedrine in the United States. Some Canadians are even exporting pseudoephedrine across the border to the United States, where it’s being used to create meth, Al-Baghdadi says.

Canadian authorities like the RCMP are beginning to co-operate more with American officials to curb trafficking, he says.

But the solution to the problem won’t come from arrests alone.

“Police just focus on reaction when we really have to engage in prevention,” says Irvin Waller, a criminology professor at the University of Ottawa.

“It’s very clear if the only thing you do is enforce drug laws, there is no sustainable impact on supply or demand,” Waller says.

Waller points to the “Saskatchewan model” as an example of successful drug prevention. That model combines prevention and enforcement, bringing law enforcement, communities and organizations together to address drug problems.

Yves Séguin is the director at Centre d’intervention et de prévention en toxicomanie de l’Outaouais (CIPTO). The Gatineau-based organization works to help treat and prevent substance abuse.

Séguin says he has seen a rise in gang activity over the past few years.

“They’re pushing products [like meth] and some people are trying something new,” he says.

While Séguin hasn’t seen a significant increase in people seeking treatment for meth addiction, the fact that it’s more available on the street may be a reason for the rise in charges.

As for why Quebec, and not any other province, has seen such a noticeable spike in meth charges, the answer remains unclear.

In British Columbia, another province notorious for meth activity, the numbers look very different. Last year fewer than 250 people were charged with possession and just 92 for trafficking.

Various police and justice departments in Quebec did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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