Brockville Police are urging residents to lock their vehicles and keep valuables out of sight after a youth policing initiative found many cars across the city unprotected. Students with the Youth in Policing program fanned out through neighbourhoods this week, leaving reminder notices on vehicles as part of a citywide theft prevention campaign.
The effort is part of the Lock It or Lose It campaign, where officers and volunteers check parked cars to see if they are locked and if valuables are visible. They then place a notice on the windshield highlighting any missed safety steps and offering simple prevention tips.
The reminders come even as overall reported crime in Brockville dropped in 2025, but thefts bucked the trend. According to Brockville Police figures, thefts rose by 16 incidents last year to a total of 526. The increase was one of the few crime categories that grew while robbery numbers fell by more than half.
Provincially, Ontario saw a 22 percent decline in vehicle thefts in 2025 compared to the 2024 peak, according to the Équité Association’s 2025 Auto Theft Trend Report. But the Toyota Highlander remains one of Ontario’s most stolen vehicles, and Brockville has seen such thefts firsthand. In March 2025, a 2024 Toyota Tundra and a 2024 Toyota Highlander were stolen from residential driveways in the city’s southwest end.
The Youth in Policing Initiative is an eight-week summer employment program for residents aged 15 to 18 that teaches young people about policing and community engagement. Their goal with the notice drop is to help reduce thefts from vehicles and build simple crime prevention habits, according to police.
Brockville Police have also partnered with Équité Association to combat auto theft through data analytics, vehicle identification, and coordinated investigations. The partnership, formed in late 2024, aims to target organised crime networks behind many auto thefts.
