For 10 years police officers across the province have been using bait cars to trap car thieves - this month they are celebrating the program's success.
The Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team, also known as IMPACT, is a unit of police officers that was created in 2003 when the province was experiencing a surge in car thefts.
According to a press release from the B.C. RCMP, 810 cars were reported stolen in New Westminster in 2003. By 2013 the number of cars reported stolen dropped dramatically to 110.
The decline in car thefts began almost instantly after the IMPACT team was founded in 2003 - with 200 fewer cars reported stolen in 2004 in New West than in 2003. By 2011, the number of cars reported stolen in the city dropped below 200.
According to ICBC, across the province there has been a 75 per cent decrease in vehicle thefts since 2003, compared to an 86 per cent decrease in car thefts in New Westminster during the same time frame.
"Though we may be best known for our bait car program, it's our enforcement team in the background who are the unsung heroes, ensuring our fleet can be quickly and easily deployed to address hot spots as they occur throughout B.C.," Insp. Peter Jadis, head of IMPACT, said in the release. "We typically see notable drops when we target specific areas."
In addition to the bait car program, IMPACT also initiated the creation of an annual top 10 most wanted auto thieves list in 2006. In 2011, bait trailers were also introduced to address the rising number of trailer thefts. Last year, bait property became the newest part of the IMPACT tool kit.
Looking forward, IMPACT plans on devoting more resources to targeting large scale auto theft operations, including chop shops and vehicle cloning.
For more information on auto crime and for prevention tips, visit www.icbc.com/road-safety/prevent-autocrime or check out the bait car website at www.baitcar.com.
