Police don’t typically share information when it comes to their investigations, but an East Coast partnership of law enforcement and the Insurance Bureau of Canada is producing results, and putting a dent in auto theft.
The Provincial Auto Theft Network (PATNET) provides training for law enforcement in the Maritimes – but more importantly, is an informal network of police and insurance agencies sharing information throughout the region on the persistent problem of auto theft.
“Criminals don’t know borders,” says Keith Copeland, a constable with the St. John City police force in New Brunswick. “Cross-border issues become very big because of communication problems and official hierarchy. With PATNET, we have people who are connected, without having to go through official channels, connected through email. We can share information back and forth. We can identify trends.”
For more information on PATNET, click here on the IBC website.
Although it is difficult to quantify the success of the network, there are tangible results, Copeland told InsuranceBusiness.ca. (continued.)
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“When Woodstock police force, for example, had problems with cargo theft they were able to get the word out through the Insurance Bureau of Canada,” he says. “Although our Maritime network isn’t connected to Quebec, we were able to connect through the IBC investigative services arm. Quebec police located and recovered the stolen trailers in that province.”
Without the network, that wouldn’t have happened with that immediacy, says Copeland.
“That’s very difficult to quantify, but a very good example as to how the system has worked for us,” he says. “Before, when we didn’t have a network, it would have taken far, far longer to investigate that crime.
“It is not going to have an overnight impact, but it is going to build, progressively, for sure.”
The other aspect of PATNET is the partnership in education with the IBC, which recently held a two-day training seminar in Truro, Nova Scotia for local and RCMP police personnel.
Guy Ouellette, an IBC investigator, says the popularity of PATNET has evolved, especially after Ottawa decided to stop training on auto theft at the academy.
“Actually, we were ahead of the game here on the East Coast,” Ouellette told InsuranceBusiness.ca, “because of the distance and cost to travel to Ottawa, a lot of local agencies didn’t have the financial means to do that. So we thought, why not do training in the Atlantic region? Then Ottawa stopped their training, and it made even more sense to do it here.” (continued.)
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Ouellette says auto theft is big business and presents a significant and growing threat in Canada, as it is estimated that organized crime networks are behind one in five vehicle thefts. The trafficking in stolen vehicles is more profitable than many other black market activities, estimated to cost Canadians $600 million each year.
Which is why these seminars are so important, Ouellette says.
“It is for all levels of police forces. It also involves all the other levels of enforcement – Canada Customs, Public Safety… every agency that deals with motor vehicles,” he says. “If the criminals know that the police are being better trained, and are doing a better job at identifying stolen vehicles, obviously it is going to help reduce the cost of stolen vehicles.”
PATNET having got its start in New Brunswick in 2011 is expected to expand its training seminars to Prince Edward Island by the end of this year, and Newfoundland by 2014.
