During the week of November 18th to November 24th, there were two files of note that both involved the theft, or attempted theft, of a vehicle.

In the first instance, police were contacted on Monday, November 18th by a resident of the 2000 block of Allenby Street to report the attempted theft of her minivan over the evening of November 16/17. The van had been left unlocked and the culprit entered the van and removed the casing around the steering column in an apparent attempt to thwart the keyed ignition. The owner had been driving the vehicle for a day and a half before mechanical troubles were noted and the police called. OBPD would ask, that whenever possible, you contact us immediately upon discovering a crime has been committed. This affords us the best opportunity to obtain evidence and potentially build an investigation.

In the second call, another minivan had been left, unlocked and running in the 2700 block of Foul Bay Road. The vehicle had been started in an attempt to warm it up at 7:30 in the morning and when the owner next looked out of his house, the van was gone. As the owner was reporting his van stolen, Saanich police were receiving a report of a single vehicle crash on Cedar Hill Cross Road. Sure enough, the stolen van from Oak Bay was the crashed van in Saanich.

Witnesses to the crash provided police with a very good description of the male who had been driving the van and who had fled the scene on foot. Around 8:00, a member of the Oak Bay Police Department located a male matching the description walking on Shelbourne Street and stopped him. Subsequently, the 21-year-old male was arrested for the theft of the vehicle and brought to Oak Bay Police were he was later released with a court date next month. The male has no previous criminal record and it would seem that he just couldn’t resist the allure of an unlocked, running, warm van as he walked home after being out all night.