Fatality tarnishes gains in car-theft war

Winnipeg's long-fought battle against auto theft took a major hit when a man was killed over the weekend by a stolen SUV, a member of a provincial auto-theft task force said Monday.

Rick Linden, who is also a criminology professor at the University of Manitoba, said December is shaping up to show the largest statistical reduction in car theft in 20 years.

But with the death of 47-year-old Zdzislaw Andrzejczak on Friday after a stolen Hummer H2 sped through a stop sign and crushed the mechanic's small car, the numerical victory loses its lustre, Linden said.

"Losing a life and seeing people lose a husband and father and son really makes the numbers quite meaningless," Linden said. "It's a really sad occasion, and I know everybody who's working with the task force is just devastated."

Early Sunday, another stolen Hummer led police on a short but dangerous chase through the St. James neighbourhood. The vehicle was driven on sidewalks and caused damage to property.

The Hummer involved in Andrzejczak's death was a 2005 model and is not listed by Manitoba Public Insurance as being a vehicle at high risk of being stolen.

It wasn't required by Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) to have an approved, non-factory immobilizer.

Linden said he wants this to change, and for the vehicle's manufacturer to improve the quality of immobilizers it installs.

"I wish that when they were building these very expensive vehicles that General Motors would have put a better product in," he said.

Young suspect sought

The key component of the city's auto-theft fight is the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy, which combines the efforts of police, prosecutors and probation officers to monitor a scourge of underage, chronic car thieves in Winnipeg.

Since the theft suppression program began in September 2005, car thefts have dropped dramatically. There are now 9,000 fewer thefts a year than in 2004, the worst period in city history for stolen cars.

On some days in 2004, as many as 40 cars were stolen from city streets, but now the number has been reduced to an average of six stolen cars a day, Linden said.

The vast majority of offenders being monitored by police under the anti-theft program are under 18. About 100 teens considered at extremely high risk of stealing vehicles must check in with police frequently and follow a curfew, among other things. Some must wear movement-monitoring GPS bracelets.

Witnesses at the scene of Friday's fatal crash in the North End said at least one of the three suspects who fled the scene looked very young. No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call police at 204-986-6230 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.