Westover: Surely we can stop teens from participating in car theft

Word takes a trip quickly. Particularly on a little crescent in Barrhaven. The hot subject? Cars and truck theft.

Once again.

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Our doorbell called around 2 in the afternoon. It was a neighbour reporting a teenager or young person casing the street around 4:30 am, sliding his bike moving up and down the driveways, pulling on cars and truck doors and peering in back windows.

Automobiles were taken that night. “Two automobiles a couple streets over, 2 behind us, and 3 over that method,” our neighbour stated, checking off each missing out on automobile on his fingers. We could not fact-check his reporting however it sounded about right, provided whatever we understand about burglars’ tendency for Ottawa’s southwest corner.

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In Barrhaven, we’re preferably situated if you wish to get on a hectic highway and race away with your ill-gotten gains to parts unidentified.

My spouse examined our own outside electronic camera video footage, and sure enough, though ill-lit and overexposed, we had the ability to enjoy the very same fleet-of-foot trouble-maker pulling at the door of our SUV, glaring up at the video camera, entirely indifferent to its desired function. We might construct a beard and approximate face shape, however little else.

He really took a look at the electronic camera as if to challenge its really designated function. The message was clear: “What are you going to do about it?”

I frequently question the teenagers who get roped into functioning as scouts or lookouts, who do the preliminary case on their innocuous-looking bikes. They do not do the stealing, approximately I’m offered to comprehend. Obviously its larger, badder wrongdoers who swoop in later to smash back windows and crawl within. I can’t assist however believe these kids may not get included if they understood the degree to which they are supporting other, more wicked criminal activities.

Taking a vehicle for its own function is something, however taking cars to support the mob is something else.

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Teenager brains are underdeveloped and extremely spontaneous. They are impressionable too. And maybe that’s something the heros can utilize to their benefit.

There isn’t a silver bullet to fix an obstacle as complex and prevalent as vehicle theft, however if we might reveal youths the real-world ramifications before they dip their toe in the morass of criminality, they may be reluctant to jeopardize their futures in service to dubious goons.

Possibly we need to welcome authorities or victims of automobile theft to speak at primary and intermediate schools, or develop some TikTok material that strikes home. I keep in mind as a young adult seeing a “stop smoking cigarettes” commercial that revealed a lovely lady aging in hyper-speed, ending up being a hollow-cheeked, yellow-toothed scary, within a drag or 2 of her cigarette. Had I ever yearned for the thought of elegance of a cigarette, that image treated me of it, and quickly.

If young individuals recognized that automobile theft does not simply injure the person who lost their home– a relatively “upscale” adult whom they presume can pay for greater insurance coverage premiums and arrange short-lived transportation– however really financial resources things far more harmful and horrible than the devastations of cigarette smoking, they may believe two times.

Damaging one link in the chain is a start. Including an additional authorities existence at peak times (3 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. appears to be the area agreement) would not injure either.

In the meantime, I invested Sunday making space for the automobile in the garage. In the meantime, it’s the very best response I’ve got to “What are you going to do about it.”

Suzanne Westover is an Ottawa author.

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