Saskatoon vehicle thefts in the first quarter of 2024 are down 25 per cent from the same time last year.

That’s from Staff Sergeant Matthew Ward with the Saskatoon Police Service, who attributes the decline to several large snow events in the first quarter of 2024, rendering most vehicles unable to move for several consecutive days.

Although the winter weather could prevent thefts for this reason, he adds that it can also have the opposite effect.

“Every fall, once it gets really cold, we start to see our stolen autos increase from previous periods because people tend to leave them running and unattended. That’s when a lot of these vehicles get stolen.”

Ward adds that as the warm weather continues, he expects the number of vehicle thefts in the area will begin to pick back up.

“Generally, with warm weather, we’ll return more to an average number of property crimes; stolen autos, breaks and enters, those types of occurrences, as there’s more foot traffic moving around in the middle of the night.”

He says most vehicles stolen from Saskatoon and area are used for transportation and are recovered as opposed to sold. Last Wednesday, a police operation in Montreal recovered nearly 600 stolen vehicles just as they were about to be sold overseas.

Ward says although they are aware of the large, organized operations happening across Canada, they aren’t seeing any in Saskatchewan.

Last year, 30 per cent of stolen vehicles recovered were reported to have keys in them, so to prevent your car from being stolen, Ward reminds all drivers not to leave keys in the car, don’t leave your vehicle running unattended, and park in well-lit places.