Police and the owners and managers of Olds’ major vehicle dealerships are certain organized crime based out of Calgary is behind a recent rash of thefts at the dealerships.
Police and the owners and managers of Olds’ major vehicle dealerships are certain organized crime based out of Calgary is behind a recent rash of thefts at the dealerships.
For roughly a year-and-a-half, Olds’ dealerships have experienced an increase in larger scale crimes including vehicle thefts and incidents where a thief or thieves have stolen equipment and parts from the lots.
Acting Cpl. S.D. Bereza, a spokesman for the Olds RCMP, described the spree as "really weird" and said he has never seen thieves target dealerships in other small towns where he has been previously stationed compared to the way they have in Olds.
He said it’s likely thieves are focusing on Olds because it’s an "easier target" since the dealerships here do not have fencing or surveillance systems.
And while police have "beefed up" patrols in the area, Bereza said no one has been arrested and none of the items that were stolen have been recovered locally, even though the town’s three major dealerships are close to the RCMP’s local detachment.
"It’s almost like they (the thieves) are rubbing it in our face by doing it," he said.
Paul Hildebrand, owner of Hildebrand Motors Ltd. off of 51 Street in the west part of town, said his dealership has experienced three major incidents going back to December of 2011.
The first was a break-and-enter in December 2011, where thieves used a hydraulic pry bar to open a steel, dead-bolted door at the dealership’s main building.
They took three diagnostic scanning tools valued at up to $6,000 apiece, battery boosters, an engine on a stand outside the parts department as well as a brand new pickup truck.
Hildebrand also said the thieves went through cupboards in the building looking for cash.
On Oct. 23, 2012, thieves cut wires leading to the lights above the dealership’s vehicle lot and then pried open a sunroof on a pickup truck in order to steal it.
Although the attempt was unsuccessful, Hildebrand said the truck was significantly damaged.
A month later, a Chevrolet Avalanche parked in the dealership’s rear lot had its front and back windows smashed and its rims and tires stolen.
Hildebrand said the thieves broke into another vehicle belonging to a customer on the lot to get a jack to raise the Avalanche in order to get the rims and tires and they also cut a fence leading to the neighbouring Home Hardware to steal blocks to rest the truck’s frame on.
The costs of each incident were roughly $32,000 and those costs were recovered through the dealership’s insurance.
Hildebrand said he believes criminals from Calgary were behind the incident since dealerships in and around the city have experienced similar thefts and the stolen truck was later recovered in Calgary.
He added the thieves are coming into smaller communities and stealing what they can to sell as quickly as possible, but he doesn’t know why Olds has been targeted so much in the past year.
"I’ve talked to other business owners and it’s really been the last six, eight months to a year that there’s getting to be a lot of thefts around here and I don’t know what the difference is," he said.
Dan Wiebe, owner of Olds Mountain View Chrysler Dodge, also on 51 Street, reported similar stories about large-scale thefts at his business.
In December, he said, thieves cut out five diesel exhaust filter systems from the undersides of trucks parked at the lot, costing the dealership $15,000 in replacement fees.
Just last month, a brand new Jeep had its windows smashed so a thief or thieves could take out the seats and its rims and tires were also stolen.
Thieves have also taken wheels, spare tires, headlights and tailgates in past months and the dealership has resorted to using locks on wheels and tailgates, Wiebe said.
"That’s hopefully going to help that and prevent that from happening in the future."
Just down Highway 27 at Olds Cam Clark Ford, thieves ripped the rims and tires off of a Ford Escape in January 2011, said the dealership’s sales manager, Josh Bernhard.
One month later, a new pickup truck parked near the roadway had its rims and tires stolen and other vehicles on the lot had their windows smashed.
None of the dealerships have surveillance systems and right now, only the Chrysler Dodge dealership is planning on introducing a security guard for the lot overnight and on weekends when the dealership moves to its new home near the junction of highways 2 and 27 in June.
Hildebrand said it’s cost-prohibitive for smaller dealerships to install cameras or other expensive security systems or to hire security firms.
"We’re being forced to look at what can we do to stop it. I can spend 10s of thousands of dollars of video surveillance equipment, but is that going to stop somebody who knows what they’re doing. I don’t know that it would."
But he said he wants to talk with other dealerships in town about the idea of pooling their resources to hire security personnel to monitor all of the lots at night and on weekends.
"Which is pretty sad for a small town to have to do," he said. "It’s not just the dealership, it’s the entire community that’s being affected by this."
Bernhard said right now he’s resorted to using the vehicles on his lot to block the dealership’s entrances and exits in order to prevent thieves from entering the property.
He added he also likes the idea of cooperation for security.
"It’s definitely something we’d be willing to look at."
No one knows why Olds is being targeted over other small communities in the region when it comes to dealership theft.
Managers at dealerships in Innisfail and Carstairs reported no major incidents over the past year or two and Bereza said he hasn’t heard of any similar crimes from police in those communities.
Multiple calls to the Calgary Police Service for comment on whether they are aware of groups in the city operating in neighbouring rural areas went unreturned.
Along with looking at hiring security, the dealerships are asking police to continue their monitoring of the lots at night and Hildebrand said he wondered if Olds’ Citizens on Patrol might help out.
Leonard Brandson, president of Olds Citizens on Patrol, said the organization is still active and patrolling once or twice a week, despite a declining membership.
Although no one from the dealerships has approached him about monitoring the lots, he said the dealerships are on the organization’s patrol "hot" list and he’d be open to discussing increased patrols.
"I’m sure if we got together we could come up with some effective plans."
Bereza said police are also working with the dealerships to come up with better security measures but, in the interest of not tipping off potential thieves, he would not share any details.
"We got a plan," he said.
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