Homeowners are installing bollards to protect auto theft in Toronto

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With car thefts at an all-time high in Toronto, some people are resorting to installing retractable bollards in their driveways — vertical posts to physically prevent their vehicles from being stolen.

According to the Toronto Police Service’s major crimes indicators dashboard, car thefts increased by 25.4 per cent in 2022. Inspector Paul Rinkoff said there’s been a “dramatic surge” in the city’s auto theft crisis over the last few years, with the number of vehicles stolen this year already skyrocketing.

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“When you compare 2020 to 2023, we saw an increase of 54 per cent in relation to auto theft,” he told the National Post. “That means 9,795 vehicles stolen in 2022 and 12,170 vehicles stolen in 2023. From the beginning of March, when compared to last year, we’re seeing a 114 per cent increase with 1,495 cars already stolen in 2024.”

Amid the crisis, people are looking for more ways to prevent car thefts, with bollards becoming an increasingly popular option.

Toronto resident Brad Lucas felt forced to invest in bollards last February after his white Ferrari GCT4Lusso was nearly stolen right out of his driveway.

“I had just gotten the car,” he said. “It was parked in the driveway, I’d had it for about a week and a half.”

Two people had attempted to carjack the vehicle twice in one morning, he said, failing to steal the car itself but damaging it in the process. Though this was the first time Lucas had experienced any form of attempted auto theft, the experience was enough for him to begin looking for a long-term security system.

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“I had actually went and bought a parking boot,” he said. “It’s kind of unsightly, but these guys, when they’re trying to steal a car, they don’t want to spend a lot of time mucking about. They just want to try breaking the window and do whatever they need to do to get in, get started and take off.”

After using the parking boot as a temporary guard for about three weeks, Lucas came across Bollard Boys GTA, a local bollard installation service.

During the next five weeks, Lucas received a quote for the project, spoke with some of the organization’s prior customers and waited for the city to approve the installation. In the end, after about 10 hours of work, there were three retractable bollards bordering his driveway.

“The lovely thing about it is, when they’re down, you don’t know they’re there,” he said. “It’s inconspicuous during the day when they’re dropped, but when I come home at night and I’m putting the car to bed, I pull them up. There’s no way for anybody to be able to futz around to try and get the car out between the bollards because there’s no way it would fit.”

With his new driveway installments, Lucas has retired his parking boot as he believes it would be “redundant” to use both at once.

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Achoy Ladrick, one of Bollard Boys GTA’s co-founders, said their company experienced a noticeable spike in demand for their services amid the city’s auto theft epidemic.

“There’s definitely been a growing demand over the past three years as problems have worsened,” said Ladrick. “The bollards themselves are becoming more normalized, it’s been a growing demand from when we initially started.”

Ladrick said other car prevention utilities can only “prolong the inevitable,” delaying the stealing process but ultimately only buying extra time until these defences are disabled. In his opinion, bollards are the only way to effectively prevent a car theft.

“Tags are getting removed and people (install) locks on wheels, but the wheel gets cut, they slide the lock off and then replace the wheel to sell it,” he said. “So, although there are a lot of alternative options, there’s one option that indefinitely stops a car from getting stolen, which is a bollard, a physical barrier.”

Brady Wilson, the owner of Got Concrete Inc. — a concrete company that also installs bollards — said they’re “100 per cent preventative” as a driveway defence against carjackers.

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“You have to come prepared with a bulldozer if you’re gonna take out a bollard,” he said. “Typically, once they see the bollards are there, there’s no way of going around it.”

According to Wilson, what makes a driveway bollard so effective is its inability to be disarmed or destroyed.

“You don’t pass ‘Go’ with a bollard,” he said. “Once they’re up, they’re locked, they’re secured. You can’t run them over. You can’t push them over. You can’t pull them out. You can’t pick the lock.”

Toronto Police also acknowledged that other theft prevention measures have limited effectiveness.

“The idea is to make it more difficult for a thief to steal a particular vehicle and move on to another one,” said Rinkoff. “But if a vehicle is targeted, meaning thieves have decided that this particular vehicle is one that they wish to acquire and put significant effort into doing so, at some point, whatever defense mechanism selected can become less effective.”

Bollards continue to become more popular as more residential properties are being exposed to them.

“What we’ve noticed is that once somebody gets it done in their neighbourhood, neighbours start inquiring,” said Ladrick. “It’s becoming more normalized in that sense.”

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As the demand for bollards increases, they are also becoming more advanced.

“When we first started using them, they were a utilitarian piece; yellow metal coming out of the ground,” said Wilson. “Now, they’re stainless steel, they have LED lights, they have Wi-Fi, they’re spring-mounted, they’re hydraulic.”

Rinkoff said people should also take extra precautions to ensure the safety of themselves and their vehicles.

“Some other actions you can take in terms of securing your home is to have a strong front door that has multiple door locks and a strong strike plate. Make sure your backyard gates and ground windows are secure. Do not post on social media when you’ll be out of town,” he said. “If you’re able to take advantage of some theft prevention devices that are on the market, such as steering wheel locks and immobilizers, that may reduce the likelihood that your vehicle is stolen.”

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