Politicians eye mandatory immobilizers to curb car theft

Manitoba politicians shifted their focus to auto theft Monday, in the wake of a weekend crash involving a stolen car that killed a mother of three.

Rachelle Leost, 38, died Saturday after her vehicle was struck by a stolen van that ran a stop sign in the city's North End neighbourhood. Two men have been arrested and face numerous charges, including impaired driving causing death and theft.

Investigators are now trying to determine whether the stolen van was equipped with an electronic ignition immobilizer,which prevents an engine from starting without a specific electronic signal, usually generated by a chip in the auto's ignition key.

Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard said if elected to power,his government would consider making immobilizers mandatory.

"There's still a lot of cars without immobilizers," he said. "If we're really going to use the immobilizer as an effective tool to prevent car thefts, which is what we want to do, we're going to have to move to making it mandatory."

NDP Leader Gary Doer said he wasn't sure making immobilizers mandatory would help but it's an idea he wouldconsider.

"We brought in the immobilizer provisions. We brought in provisions to have licences suspended for longer periods of time. It hasn't worked," he said.

"We need the Criminal Code changed. We need more police officers, more Crown prosecutors. If immobilizers can help, we'll look at anything."

Progressive Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen would not rule out mandatory immobilizers, but said he doesn't want the wrong people paying for it.

"If you're going to punish people, we should be punishing people who are criminals and offenders," he said.

"Regular law-abiding Manitobans have been asked to do a lot to protect themselves because Gary Doer has been soft on crime. We think it's important to be tough on crime and those who are committing them."

Immobilizersare already required by law on vehicles that are on the province's list of vehiclesat greatest risk of theft andthat are being imported orregistered for thefirst time.They are also required for at-greatest-risk vehicles that have been stolen and recovered.

For other drivers, Manitoba Public Insurance will pay for more than half the cost of the installation of an approved immobilizeror for the entire cost of installation for any vehicle on the at-greatest-risk list.

Earlier this year, MPI officials said about half of the 150,000 high-risk vehicles registered in Manitoba had immobilizers installed.