Police look to crack down on violence in Toronto's tow truck industry
Announcement follows several shootings in Scarborough last week
Toronto police have launched a new task force to address a rise in crime and violence linked to the tow truck industry, saying nearly all of the shootings they've responded to in the new year have been linked to towing-related disputes.
So far this year, seven out of the 10 shootings Toronto police have responded to have been related to the tow truck industry, Insp. Paul Krawczyk with the Toronto Police Service said Monday.
"That's clearly not acceptable. It's a lot of public fear out there. And also obviously, if you're a tow truck operator, there's a big worry," he said.
The industry has seen an increase in gun violence, with 63 firearm discharge and shooting incidents linked to tow truck-related disputes last year, accounting for almost 13 per cent of all shootings in Toronto, police data shows.
The task force, dubbed Project Dodger, will focus on investigating violent incidents, including firearm discharges, shootings and arsons, linked to ongoing ongoing territorial towing disputes in the city, police said in a news release Monday.
Police say plainclothes and uniformed officers will also be deployed in critical areas around Toronto to deter violence and enforce industry regulations.
Recent shootings, violence
Those shootings include last Wednesday, when a tow truck driver was shot in the area of Markham Road and Sheppard Avenue East.
Two days earlier, Toronto police arrested two people linked to a carjacking incident where investigators say people in a tow truck forced another vehicle to pull over before stealing it.
Then last month, Durham police said they were investigating two shootings in Ajax they believe may be linked to ongoing tow truck-related violence, after the front doors of two different homes were shot at within minutes of each other on the evening of Dec. 12.
Gary Vandenheuvel, president of the Professional Towing Association of Ontario, said it's alarming to see so many crimes connected to the industry.
"The vast majority of the towing industry are good, hard working people that want nothing to do with this and, and are equally shocked at this violence that we see," he said.
He said the association has heard from operators in the GTA who have been threatened with violence "for just doing their job."
"None of us want to work in that kind of atmosphere. We don't feel we should have to go to work on a daily basis, you know, with, with these kind of threats looming behind you."
The new initiative will also involve members from the force's integrated gun and gang task force as well as analysts and investigators from their intelligence services unit.
Police created a similar task force from June to August of last year that resulted in the arrests of six people and 184 charges related to a homicide and 13 tow truck-related shooting incidents.
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With files from Dale Manucdoc and Canadian Press