Jetting off? Consider Denver-booting your car before parking in a lot near Trudeau Airport

At least one hotel in Montreal's West Island is offering guests wheel clamps to prevent their vehicles from being stolen, so great is the problem of car thefts from hotel parking lotsnear Trudeau International Airport.

Although vehicles get robbed all over the island, Montreal police data for the last three years shows there are three hotspots:

• Hotelparking lots alongCte-de-LiesseRoad.
• At airport parking lots.
• At theFairviewshopping centre inPointe-Claire.

Since 2015,more than 650 cars were reported stolen from these areas.

• INTERACTIVE MAP:See where Montreal crimes happen in our crime tracker

The area around the airportis a prime spot for thefts because there are so many parking lots where cars are left for days at a time.

"It's simple. Car thieves go where there are lots of cars," said Montreal policeInsp.AndrDurocher.

TheTravelodgeonCte-de-Liessebegan offering guests wheel clamps, commonly known as Denver boots, this year.

"All our members have put in place a number of measures to prevent car thefts on their parking lots,from cameras, increased lighting, security guard, fences, gates and so on," saidvePar, the chief executive officer of the Greater Montreal Hotels Association.

However, ramping up security doesn't seem to be having much of an impact on thefts, Parsaid.

"They've been arresting people but it keeps coming back.It's a very cyclical issue," she said.

The dark red hexagon on thismap represents the area aroundCte-de-LiesseRoad, a growing hot spot for car thefts.Click on the mapfor a detailed look at where crimes happen in Montreal.

A year ago, in April 2017, Montreal policenabbedfive men suspected of running a car-theft ringin the West Island, however, the number of thefts have actually increased since those arrests.

On average, 311 cars are reported stolen each month. Last November, however, nearly 400 car thefts were reported the highest monthly number since police started releasing detailed crime data in 2015.

Property break-ins trump car thefts

Although vehicle theft is on the rise, it is actuallyone of the leastfrequentproperty crimes in Montreal.

Montreal police crime data shows that, by comparison, there are on average 760 break-ins into homes or businesses and 610 thefts of objects such as laptops and pursesfrom inside carsreported to Montrealpolice each month.

Parunderstands that because vehicle thefts area less frequent crime, they arenot a priority for police.

However, she's worried about the impression it leaves on tourists.

"We're really concerned about the image this gives to Montreal," Parsaid. "You come to Montreal, you go to a hotel and your car gets stolen."

Police advisecar owners and travellers to choose hotels that offerheightenedsecurity before parking their cars in a hotellotand jetting off.

They also urge motorists to cover the serial numbers on their cars. Thieves can use illicit technology to make copies of keys.

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