Toronto Police set up website to return stolen property

(Updated)

Toronto police have launched a new website tool to help connect victims of crime with their stolen property, starting with thousands of items recovered in Project Yellowbird earlier this year.

Toronto police arrested nine people back in August and at that time displayed several expensive items that had been stolen from upscale Toronto homes. But they say it took until now to log every item and load it into a database you can now search from the Toronto police website.

Project Yellowbird got its name from a Porsche Carrera stolen two days before Christmas last year.

Toronto Police Detective David Zajac: “The vehicle was driven the night of the ice storm when wires were down, no one could drive, wasn’t the type of vehicle you’d be driving in a snowstorm.”

Nine months of investigation yielded nine arrests including a notorious Toronto car thief who had been living with his wife and child in Niagara Falls. Maciej Niezurawski beat an earlier attempt to have him deported to Poland. Authorities are now trying again. Four of the accused are out on bail, the rest are still behind bars awaiting court. All but one individual from Russia are from Poland.

Police believe the group stole 43 luxury cars after breaking into homes to steal the keys, plus grab jewellery and any other valuables in view.

Detective Zajac: “We have recovered 23 of the motor vehicles. Another dozen have been shipped overseas.”

Police have also recovered boxes full of designer handbags, jewellery that included a $400,000 watch, statues, electronics and silverware. Even a 150-year old bible.

Det. Zajac: “We have over 4,000 photos of pieces of property. there’s no way we could display this.”

Toronto police say the new tool accessible from their website will allow victims of crime to browse through the stolen property at their leisure. Police will investigate every claim. Receipts or photos of the stolen goods are helpful and they have to first be reported stolen.

Det. Zajac: “It’ll be a permanent feature on the TPS website. We’ve come across other large seizures in the past, and we’ve found it cumbersome to get it out to the public and display it.”

In speaking with Hamilton, Halton and Niagara police, they all say that so far, they’ve had no need for an online database of crime seizures. They say they haven’t been so overwhelmed with stolen goods that they can’t return them to the rightful owners.