2018 a year of crime challenges for Torontoins, robberies, auto thefts and other common types of...

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The city has suffered through ayear of the most awful crimesimaginable, from the North Yorkvan attack and the Danforthshooter to the Leaside serialmurders and the Shermanhomicides. These incidentsdominated headlines and made usall feel less safe. But what about inour own backyards? People riflingthrough our vehicles and swipingpackages off our porches arenowhere near as disturbing, butwhen crime hits close to home wetake it very seriously. To that end,we look back at the year inneighbourhood crime and ask thequestion: Just how safe is our ownbackyard?

Toronto is fairly safe for a largecity. According to 2018 reports,we might not be the safest, but weare pretty darn close, better thanother Ontario cities such asOttawa and Guelph and far betterthan other major urban centresMontreal and Vancouver.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’ta lot of crime in the city. There isplenty, especially breaking-and-enterings, robberies and autothefts that seem to happen nomatter what precautions are beingtaken.

That was on my mind as I wenton a patrol with Avante homesecurity, which surveils areas likeThe Bridle Path, Rosedale andForest Hill. The company’s signsare everywhere, alongside those offirms such as ADT, in theseneighbourhoods. If the city isreally so safe, these people havenot received the memo.

As we travel the streets, passingone officer on patrol and anotherdelivering a package to a client,the driver spots an open backyard

gate out the corner of his eye, andwe pull over as he secures theperimeter. All part of the service.

Emmanuel Mounouchos, aRyerson electrical engineeringgraduate who grew up in EastYork, founded the firm in 1996.

Now that Toronto PoliceService has said it will no longerrespond to home alarms withoutvisual confirmation, the homesecurity business is booming.

Although its business hinges onits guarangeed response time ofless than six minutes, Avante goesfar beyond what one mightexpect. They use currenttechnology and analytics to createa sensory bubble around eachhome. If someone walks onto theproperty, they know about it andtake steps immediately.

Mounouchos also offers advice— from giving children codewords in case someone unknowncomes to pick them up fromschool, to making sure the lightsare left on at all times, to takingdifferent routes to and from workjust in case. It’s frightening stuff.

The reality is that we are safe,but we could always be safer.

In this edition, we drill downinto police statistics and reports ofcrime at the neighbourhood leveland look into car and home break-ins, robberies, auto thefts andother common types of crime.

We have beautiful familyneighbourhoods, let’s keep themsafe.

2018 a year of crimechallenges for TorontoResidents looking for help to stem the tideof break-ins and auto thefts by Ron Johnson

Toronto Police no longer respond to homealarms without visual confirmation

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2018 a year of crime challenges for Torontoins, robberies, auto thefts and other common types of...

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