Stolen vehicles, smashed windows and people caught checking cars on security cameras have Niagara-on-the-Lake residents comparing notes after a string of incidents stretching from late last week into this week.
Residents in Garrison Village and around Tanbark Road and Fedorkow Lane are among those who say their vehicles were targeted.
Garrison Village resident Stephanie Penman had her vehicle stolen at about 5:10 a.m. Thursday. A neighbour found it later that day where it had been ditched.
She said police told her another vehicle was then stolen from the area where hers had been left, and that while she gave her statement around 10 a.m. that morning, the officer was receiving more calls from her street.
Her vehicle is now at a repair shop and will need to be re-keyed at minimum, she said. Its airbag warning light was also on when it was found, which Penman said indicated the airbag had been disabled.
Her insurance will cover the damage.
Andrew Perrie said someone walked up the driveway of his Lower Canada Drive home at about 4:48 a.m. — roughly 20 minutes before Penman’s vehicle was stolen — and began checking his vehicles.
The person got inside Perrie’s older truck, though there was nothing inside to steal, he said. His security cameras also captured a second person walking west toward Confederation Drive and Garrison Village Drive.
Perrie reported the incident to police.
Three days later, another Garrison Village resident reported an attempted vehicle theft.
Ross Sanders, who lives on Brock Street, said a family member discovered the driver-side rear window of his 2025 Toyota Tundra 1794 Edition smashed between about 2:30 and 3 a.m. Sunday.
After unlocking the truck, they found its wiring had also been tampered with, but nothing was taken because nothing of value had been left inside, Sanders said.
He said a neighbour’s doorbell camera captured two people wearing backpacks lingering around the property before the attempted theft. He reported the incident to Niagara Regional Police and said he was told to file a report online.
A spokesperson for Niagara Regional Police told The Lake Report that after checking its record of calls made in the last week, six reports were made regarding stolen vehicles in NOTL: two in Garrison Village, one in St. Davids, one in Virgil and two in Old Town.
“As the investigations are ongoing, all avenues will be explored, including trying to determine whether there are any common links or suspects,” said Const. Rich Hingley.
The incidents have left residents with sharply different views of how safe their neighbourhood feels.
Sanders said his experience was another reason for residents to take vehicle security more seriously.
“One-hundred per cent I feel like we live in a hotspot for vehicle theft,” he said.
He urged residents to consider precautions such as steering-wheel locks, trackers, wheel locks and surveillance cameras.
“Don’t assume NOTL is as safe as it used to be. This keeps happening too frequently.”
Penman has lived in her home for 21 years and said the experience has also changed how she thinks about safety, particularly as the mother of a four-year-old.
“This didn’t happen 10 years ago,” she said.
Penman said incidents are happening more often and pointed to reports of people entering homes. She said it makes her wonder “when they might start just coming in the front door.”
She said police offered little other information about what happened to her vehicle — “other than here is your car back,” she said.
Perrie, despite having dealt with repeated incidents himself, feels differently about his sense of security in town.
“I feel completely safe,” he said.
About two years ago, another vehicle was stolen from Perrie’s property after both sets of its keys disappeared.
The stolen vehicle ended up with more than $15,000 in damage. Insurance covered the repairs, Perrie said, but his premiums went up and the damage followed him when he later tried to trade it in.
He estimates his vehicles have been targeted about five times altogether, but said “it doesn’t change my opinion at all” on NOTL.
“In fact, I think Niagara-on-the-Lake is the safest town in all of Ontario. In Canada.”
It was not Penman’s first experience with a vehicle break-in, either.
She said another of her vehicles had previously been broken into, though nothing was taken that time.
Reports of other incidents this past week have also surfaced on social media.
Fran Garofalo posted in the NOTL 4 All Facebook group that someone got into a locked truck in a driveway in the Bunny Glen Drive, Tanbark Road and Creekside Drive area sometime after 11:30 p.m. Monday and before Tuesday morning.
Items were taken and the vehicle was left a mess, Garofalo said.
In the comments, several other residents shared similar experiences.
Loretta Valstar said her vehicles on Tanbark Road were also targeted at about 2:10 a.m. Tuesday. She described a dark blue pickup truck, possibly a Ford, with a driver and two other people going from vehicle to vehicle. One vehicle was unlocked and eventually rummaged through, she said.
Wilma Valstar said she had video of a pickup truck and two men going through her car before running back to the truck. She said nothing was taken.
On Fedorkow Lane, Helen Dimitrakopoulos said a neighbour’s vehicle was stolen and cash was taken from another vehicle and that camera footage was provided to police.
Arin Derylak said vehicles at her Tanbark Road home had been targeted again, after a similar incident in the past.
Annie Meesh also said her family’s truck in Virgil had been targeted Sunday night.
Valstar, Dimitrakopoulos and Derylak did not specify when the incidents they described occurred. The Lake Report reached out to the residents who shared those accounts on social media for further details but did not hear back by press time.
In the meantime, Hingley shared some advice for people looking to keep from becoming the next target of a car break-in.
“As always, we remind people to ensure their vehicles are locked. Don’t leave valuable in your vehicles,” he said. “If you want an extra layer of theft prevention, there are after-market anti-theft and tracking devices available.”
