Calgary police team dedicated to scouring internet for stolen property first in Canada
Calgary Canada Aug 9 2018 It’s an early June morning for Const. Paul Teworte and his team of seven as they prepare to execute a search warrant issued the day before.
The Calgary police online stolen property team — the first full-time unit of its kind in the country — was on the prowl looking to bust a prolific seller of stolen property using the online buy-and-sell website Kijiji.
Officers gather around a boardroom table for their 8 a.m. briefing less than an hour before they kick his door in, on the 1800 block of 18 St. S.W.
Members of Teworte’s team had seen their suspect less than a week prior when they confronted him about an Orange Kona Bike that was allegedly stolen and sold online.
In the vicinity, other members of Teworte’s team are positioned to keep an eye on the house — watching for any runners.
Before they leave, officers make sure to grab the opioid overdose antidote Narcan, just in case.
Ten minutes after the briefing started, officers pour out of the room gearing up for what should be a good bust.
After the door is booted in and people are contained, the team gets underway combing the residence for evidence. While they find items, they radio back to their analyst at the office who scours police databases to determine if the item has been reported stolen or not.
“Typically we do a buy-bust, which is when we set up a meet with an offender, and then subsequently arrest them and seize the stolen property they were selling,” said Teworte.
“We’ll do that if it’s one or two items of stolen property. If we are dealing with a repeat offender, like in (this) case, or with multiple stolen items at a residence, then we want to get all of it. Guaranteed if he or she gets arrested on just the sale of one item, all the ads will probably go down afterwards.”
The bust was a huge success — it netted the team an assortment of tools and electronics, as well as a computer stolen from B.C.
James (Jimmy) Boyd was charged with possession of stolen property and trafficking in stolen property, both under $5,000.
Boyd’s bust was considered a low-risk one by Teworte — and one that the team wouldn’t need extra resources for. However, other cases may have higher-risk factors and in those cases, they will often team up with other police units like the tactical team.
The online stolen property team, formed 16 months ago, has seen great success early on. Through more than 400 cases, it has recovered at least $750,000 worth of stolen property.
Trends in traditional types of crime like theft, shoplifting and break and enters have begun to transition into the internet age.
Offenders who committed these crimes were starting to pop up more and more on Facebook buy-and-sell pages, as well as other quick-sell websites like Kijiji, Craigslist or PinkBike.
“We saw a need to address that unique cycle. In the past, often times stolen property was being sold between networks, whether it was drugs, friends or to pawn shops and that was relatively easy to control,” said Teworte.
“Once it moved online, we saw a need to develop a covert capacity to address those needs and to lower the increase (in) property crimes in the city.
“In people who are selling stolen property, we have found the risk has exceeded our expectations. We’ve been involved in foot pursuits, we have had people meet us driving stolen vehicles and we have found in almost half of the cases … they are armed.”
Teworte said that is one of the major reasons the team exists.
“We don’t want members of the public to be meeting these individuals — there is risk to people,” he said.
The online stolen property team is the first of its kind in Canada, said Teworte, sees the work they do as important and setting a bar for policing agencies to deal with the shift to cybercrime across the nation.
“It’s on the forefront of establishing new practices and procedures in policing — what we are doing is setting good practices in the area,” he said.
This type of crime has burgeoned in Alberta with the introduction of addictive and deadly opioids on the streets, alongside the downturn in the economy. Break and enters, thefts, and stolen vehicles all fall into the realm of crimes leading to items being posted for sale online.
Offenders caught up in these crimes are usually drug users or those who are unemployed, Teworte said. In more extreme cases, he said offenders are doing this as a lifestyle — almost as if they view it as a full-time job.
Often, the team finds criminals working with one another, Teworte noted, with one procuring the illicit goods and turning them over to another, with the aim of selling the stolen property while maintaining their anonymity.
The desire to not only identify individuals responsible for these offences, but also to ferret out the middlemen, is a driving factor for Teworte’s team.
“Operating online does afford a degree of anonymity. We are seeing the vast majority of offenders using aliases, not their actual name to sell stolen property,” he said.
“Often times, the meet locations are away from their residence or place of business. It becomes very difficult to track these individuals after the fact.”
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The window to ensnare those involved in online crime can be a small one, forcing the team to work fast to ensure needed steps are taken to get a good bust.
“Typically before any bust, we will have a briefing and the briefing is very important for setting the tone of the buy,” he said.
“We set the roles we are looking to be playing … making sure everyone knows the grounds we have for investigating the matter and to ensure there is going be public safety as well.”
One person always plays the role of the devil’s advocate, looking at every case critically across their plan and then bouncing ideas off the team to ensure it can be the best possible investigation.
Teworte’s team isn’t the only one focused intensely on solving property crimes. Sgt. Todd Nichol with the Calgary police centralized break and enter unit works closely alongside Teworte on many cases.
“They’re a really good asset to us. One of the ways property is converted to cash can be through online sales,” said Nichol.
“We can provide them with lists of property we have identified as being stolen, then they can do the work to find it and try to get it back to our victims.
“We have shifted (to a centralized model) and the advantage that is we don’t have geographical boundaries and now work city-wide and more intelligence-led.”
The intelligence-led model is similar to that used by Teworte’s unit, where they look at dismantling larger crime syndicates.
When looking to purchase an item online, Teworte said it’s important to watch for multiple red flags such as items being priced extremely low compared to its regular market value that can often be tied to a very poor item description.
“The person who has stolen the item doesn’t really know what they are selling,” he said.
“You may see some questionable activity around setting up the sale. Someone may want to sell a stolen item at 11 p.m. at night in a dark, unlit area.”
Calgary Sun
