Harpreet
Sachdev of Brampton is mad as heck about his car being broken into,
and he wants GO Transit to do something about security at parking
lots. With over 45,000 spaces at GO train stations across the GTA,
the lots are an important part of the transit system. For many
riders, merely finding a space to park is their main concern, but
Mr. Sachdev’s 1996 Honda has been broken into five times since March
2004.
Thieves have
entered his car to steal items like his sunglasses and floor mats.
In the second incident, he says unknown vandals broke the steering
wheel lock and took the car for a drive before bringing it back. He
writes, “My car was gone for three weeks to be fixed.” After that,
he switched from Malton to Bramalea GO station, to no avail. Even
installing a car alarm did not foil the thieves -- he says they
found a way to turn it off.
He reported all
five crimes to Peel Region police, who do visit GO lots on random
patrols, but he says it is up to the transit agency to address the
issue. After sending an internal email at his place of work, Sachdev
says seven or eight people responded, agreeing that theft at GO lots
is a big problem. Hearing that many people don’t report the
incidents, he sent letters to Toronto media outlets including Metro
Toronto.
The transit
rider says that there are just two surveillance cameras at Bramalea
GO station, and they do not overlook the 1000-car parking lot. In
any event, station attendants are present only in rush hour, and
“They’re too busy doing the ticketing -- I don’t expect them to be
checking what’s going on.” Instead, he says GO needs “a couple of
people” to oversee the lot. “It has multiple entrances, it is way
too huge for even one person to patrol it.” He says more cameras
might also deter thieves. “I think a lot of riders won’t mind paying
extra if security is increased.”
Gary McNeil,
GO’s managing director, says that thefts do happen in station lots,
but he was surprised after learning how often Mr. Sachdev’s car has
been hit. “We park a little over 10 million cars a year, and we have
about 500 reported incidents of mischief or theft -- either from the
cars, or the cars themselves.”
McNeil says GO
does try to keep an eye on theft but “even if you talk to police,
they’ll tell you a person can break in and steal something from a
car in 30 seconds.” He says, “Our difficulty is that ... other than
having a person at the end of each aisle walking up and down, we
will never be able to fully stop theft happening at a GO parking
lot,” He adds that such incidents will also occur “in a shopping
mall parking lot, in an airport parking lot or anywhere.”
McNeil has
asked his staff to determine if GO has a higher rate of crime
compared to other parking facilities in the GTA, and why some GO
lots have no reported break-ins at all. He says, “as a result of
this letter we’ll be looking at our processes. What I think you’ll
see us doing is we will be putting out more information to those
customers who are at stations, to protect themselves a bit more.”
While GO staff
will be talking to patrons about the extent of theft, the transit
official says victims should report any incidents to GO. “The more
information we get, the more we know how big a problem we really
have. We can only base it on reported incidents.”
Send e-mail to
transit@eddrass.com.
Include address and phone number.