Parliamentary Committee Notes: National Request to Locate Protocol

Issue

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) continues to seize stolen vehicles destined for export. While efforts are underway to curb this illegal activity, the Agency can only be successful with the close collaboration with partners.

Proposed Response

• The Canada Border Services Agency remains fully committed to working with international, federal, provincial, municipal and industry stakeholders such as manufacturers or insurance companies to address this issue collectively and there is still a lot of work to be done.  In particularly and on the ground, CBSA relies heavily on intelligence from police partners to identify containers.
• The Agency has intensified its efforts to work closely with law enforcement partners to interdict stolen vehicles along the export continuum through expanded intelligence sharing and coordinated enforcement operations.  CBSA also feeds its information back to law enforcement to support prosecutions.

Background

The $28 million investment over five years underscores the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) commitment to collaborating with law enforcement counterparts to proactively uncover and exchange information to combat illicit activities. This funding will bolster our capabilities in detecting and inspecting containers containing stolen vehicles, while also strengthening cooperation and information exchange with partners both domestically and abroad to apprehend individuals involved in such crimes.

Efforts to Date

• Container Examinations
• Acting on 100% of police of jurisdiction referrals, the Agency has intercepted over 1,205 vehicles in 2024 alone, with 180 intercepted since the CBSA's last appearance at SECU on April 15th. We have devoted more resources to increase examination capacity and reduce backlogs of containers awaiting examination.
• Container Examinations – Infrastructure
  • The Agency is enhancing collaboration with rail and port partners to enhance spaces to open containers, and share information for targeting suspicious shippers.
• Joint Intelligence Group
  • The Agency remains an engaged partner within the Joint Intelligence Group, utilizing its partnerships with Police of Jurisdiction to extract actionable intelligence and understand the modus operandi of vehicle theft groups. This collaboration informs the development of targeting indicators and facilitates focused enforcement operations.
  • The Group already includes members from the Criminal Intelligence Service of Ontario, and the Greater Toronto Area Region has also designated an Intelligence Analyst to be embedded within the Group.
• National Request to Locate Protocol
  • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will be disseminating the Protocol for Interjurisdictional Law Enforcement Requests to Locate Stolen Vehicles Equipped with Tracking Devices. This Protocol will outline the roles of Police of Jurisdiction and the Agency and will be sent to all Police of Jurisdiction across Canada.
  • The RCMP will lead the distribution of the Information Bulletin through various venues including the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Canadian Integrated Response to Organized Crime, RCMP Commissioner Chief’s Roundtable and through Canadian Police Information Centre broadcast to all Police of Jurisdiction in Canada.
  • The Agency is ready to implement the Protocol and will leverage its 24/7 Warrant Response Centre as a first point of contact for Police of Jurisdiction seeking the Agency’s assistance to locate a stolen vehicle.
• Increasing CBSA Processing Capacity
  • The Agency relies heavily on other law enforcement entities to support the seizure and return of stolen vehicles to their rightful owners. Collaborative solutions are required with the various private and public partners that operate in this domain and increase the Agency’s processing capacity.
• Data Analytics
  • Collaborating with industry and law enforcement partners to leverage intelligence and data analytics for identifying complicit actors within the supply chain involved in exporting stolen vehicles, thus enhancing risk targeting capabilities associated with stolen vehicles.
• Detection Technology
  • The Agency is working with international partners to identify detection technology best suited for an operational port environment to help interdict more stolen vehicles.

Date modified:

2024-09-26