THE BATTLEFORDS - Vehicle thefts have been a major concern over the last few months in the Battlefords, but now it is hitting those who are tasked with fixing the damage.
Jared Schmidt of Macdonald Fencing in North Battleford usually responds to calls to fix or install fences after car thieves have entered various properties, fired up the vehicles and then barrelled those through the gates, leaving behind considerable damage.
Now, it’s happened to his business.
“We had a truck stolen last week,” said Schmidt. “They must have jammed something in the steering column, busted it out, and then drove it right through our front gate of the shop and busted it all up.”
The truck that was stolen was a late-90s Dodge which was recovered in Saskatoon. The vehicle was not locked, but the gate and shop were. The thinking is that the thieves jumped the fence to get in.
Unfortunately, the fence wasn’t strong enough to prevent the thieves from barrelling right through it.
“It’s only a point of slowing them down, you can’t stop them fully,” said Schmidt.
Schmidt agrees there is a rash of crime going on in the area right now, which mainly seems to be focused on vehicles.
“Whatever people can get their hands on, it seems like,” said Schmidt.
He is hoping word gets out to the community and other businesses that this is happening on an ongoing basis. The vehicle theft and gate damage has delayed his own business from getting out to help customers who have been similarly victimized.
“It’s set back a few jobs of other customers who actually had the same thing — had their fence rammed through.”
Schmidt said they had already done four or five such jobs this winter to repair gates in the Battlefords and in the surrounding area.
The bad experience has also left Schmidt with an “uneasy feeling. You never know if they’re going to come back, how far they’re going to go.”
The News-Optimist/SASKTODAY was alerted to this story by Chris Odishaw of Battleford Furniture. Odishaw had called on Macdonald Fencing to repair a fence that had also been damaged — only to get an email back from Schmidt that they had to postpone it because their own service truck had been stolen and the thieves had taken out their own gate.
“The guy who sells replacement gates has to fix his own gate!” said an incredulous Odishaw.
What particularly concerned Odishaw was the damage left behind when the gates are rammed. He pointed to the rising price of steel which makes gate replacement even more costly than it otherwise would be right now, with costs over a thousand dollars.
This situation is just one more in a rash of vehicle thefts that has hit the Battlefords and area in the last several weeks. There has also been a rash of thefts of recreational vehicles such as snowmobiles.
Even horrific low temperatures haven’t deterred the criminals. At a recent Battleford council meeting, Councillor David George reported witnessing a brazen theft of a snow machine in the early morning hours at -30 C weather, with the stolen snow machine dragged right down the street.
Battlefords RCMP Detachment is even reporting their own damage due to stolen vehicles. At North Battleford council last Monday, Staff-Sgt. Jason Teniuk reported an incident earlier that weekend where a stolen vehicle tried to play demolition-derby with their own police cars.
Teniuk has voiced repeated frustration at various council meetings about the issue of vehicle thefts, and has repeatedly reminded owners to lock their vehicles and keep them secured. He has noted stolen vehicles are often used in committing other crimes.
According to statistics presented by Battlefords RCMP at Monday night’s council meeting, for the entire North Battleford municipal and rural detachment combined there were 361 motor vehicle thefts for 2021, up from 315 the previous year and up 22 per cent from the low of 296 reported in 2017.
In Battleford there were 31 motor vehicle thefts in 2021, up from 29, while in North Battleford there were 196, up from 165 in 2020.
For the fourth quarter October to December, 2021, motor vehicle thefts went up from 87 to 91 in the entire detachment area.
As for overall property offences — which would count motor vehicle thefts, damage to gates, break and enters as well as many other offences — there was a grand total 5,422 reported for the entire detachment area in 2021, up 19 percent for the entire detachment area over a five year period.
Teniuk assured council that the RCMP is looking closely at the issue of stolen vehicles.
“We are losing a ton of automotives,” said Teniuk, “and that happens all year round…
"It’s nonsensical, I’ll be honest about it.”
