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Toronto, April 22, 2009
- Toronto Crime
Stoppers is announcing a
partnership with the Ontario
Motor Vehicle Industry Council
(OMVIC) in an effort to educate
the public about illegal motor
vehicle sales.
“Crime Stoppers is a
Community Program that helps
Solve and Prevent crime. Helping
to educate the public on
potential crime issues is
essential in this effort,” said
Sean Sportun, Chairman of
Toronto Crime Stoppers.
“Partnering with OMVIC will help
create awareness about illegal
vehicle sales and will reduce
the chance of being victimized;
as well as providing the public
with an anonymous avenue to
report such individuals engaging
in this illegal activity.”
The Toronto Crime Stoppers
program visits many schools,
church groups, and social clubs,
to share a variety of useful
crime solving and prevention
topics.
In 2007, OMVIC created the “Know
Your Ride” program with the
objective of educating students
about purchasing vehicles
privately. “Know Your Ride” was
designed for use in the Grade 10
Civics program and recently
received approval from
Curriculum Services Canada. An
important part of the program is
that students can take the
information home and pass it
along to family members who may
not be aware of the pitfalls of
purchasing used vehicles. This
may be especially helpful to
people who are new Canadians, or
people who do not know how to
find this information.
When buying vehicles privately,
consumers risk being taken
advantage of by curbsiders.
Curbsiders pose as private
sellers, but are in the business
of selling vehicles that may be
stolen, damaged, rebuilt,
odometer-tampered or have liens
against them. A recent survey
revealed 60 per cent of
Ontarians are unaware of the
term curbsider.
“OMVIC is pleased to be teaming
up with Crime Stoppers to
educate students about
curbsiding and the “Know Your
Ride” program.” said Brenda
McIntyre of OMVIC. “This is a
serious issue as surveys have
shown that one in four ads is
placed by a curbsider. Crime
Stoppers has a wide audience and
is well known. Our hope is that
students will benefit from this
partnership and learn how to
protect themselves when
purchasing used vehicles
privately.”
For more information on OMVIC
and the “Know Your Ride” program
please visit www.omvic.on.ca.
For more information on Crime
Stoppers please visit
www.222tips.com.
About Crime Stoppers
Crime Stoppers is a
partnership of the public,
police and media that provides
the community with a proactive
program for people to assist the
police anonymously to solve and
prevent crimes and, thereby, to
contribute to an improved
quality of life. You can contact
Toronto Crime Stoppers by
calling 416-222-8477(TIPS) or
toll free at
1-800-222-TIPS(8477). You can
also leave a TIP Online at
www.222tips.com or text “TOR” +
your TIP and send it to
CRIMES(274637).Crime Stoppers
takes information 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week.
About OMVIC
OMVIC licences and regulates
motor vehicle dealers in Ontario
and enforces the Motor
Vehicle Dealers Act on behalf
of the
Minister of Consumer Services.
OMVIC's mandate is to maintain a
safe and informed marketplace by
ensuring registration of dealers
and salespeople, regularly
inspecting dealerships,
maintaining a complaint line for
consumers and conducting
investigations. OMVIC is also
responsible for administering
the Motor Vehicle Dealers
Compensation Fund on behalf of a
Board of Trustees.
For more information, please
contact:
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