Crime Sift

I thought that this story was interesting because it demonstrates how frustrated people have become with problems like auto theft. On January 6, 2007 a convicted car thief Stanley Ross was beaten with a bat by the driver of another vehicle after the two vehicles collided. According to the story from the Winnipeg Sun the designer Travis Blair created the stickers with the warnings “Auto theft may result in severe injury or death” with the intention of “making light of Ross’s plight.” At this point Ross has awoken from his medically induced coma but it is unknown if he suffered brain damage from the attack.

It seems that the limited first production of the stickers has sold out and 1000 more have been ordered with the Winnipeg retailer who sold them receiving orders from across Western Canada. Naturally Ross’s family is upset by the stickers but their creator Travis wanted to assure them that it was not his intention to offend the Ross family. The stickers can be purchased at Wild Planet Music & Film Merchandise.

If you are curious about why people in Winnipeg are upset about auto theft check out the statistics reported by the Winnipeg Police Service. According to the WPS in 2005 11,736 vehicles were stolen in Winnipeg. If this number does not sound high, keep in mind that the population of Winnipeg in 2005 was 650,100.