At the height of festival season, OPP say food trucks are being targeted by criminals

Food trucks in Oxford County are increasinglyfalling victim to vandalism and theft,according to both Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and food truck owners in the region.

It's an issue that, despite being a longstanding concern, has been the cause of increasing uneasefor local purveyors of mobile meals lately.

"From the three or four food trucks in the area we keep in touch with, we probably hear about six break-ins a year," said Anthony Pinhiero, co-owner of That Food Truck, which has been serving up burgers, hot dogs, fries and more in and around Ingersollfor roughly three years.

Pinhiero has been on the receiving end of crime too something he said is costly in both money and time.

"We had our first truck broken into the first year we had it, when it was in Woodstock," he said, recounting seeingseveral hours of security camera footage of the crime, during which the truck's serving window was priedopenand its contentsransacked.

"They took stuff in the freezers bacon, burgers, beef but the scariest thingis anything that's open had to be thrown out. Everything had to be discarded because we don't know what they did," Pinhiero said. "It's discouraging. If you don't count the labour it cost us, it cost around $2,000."

Since summer is the time when food trucks are most active,that makes them more attractive to criminals, Pinhiero said.

"With how busy it is, you have to stock up a day or two before events like festivals. That's when you have a lot of stuff on board, as opposed to winter, when they're emptied out and parked," he said.

Police offer aid

OPP's Oxford County detachment asked food truck owners to reach out to them for help in reducing risks, Wednesday, citing recent food truck break-ins as their reasoning.

"We've had reports of a few incidents since the beginning of the summer,between ourselves and the Woodstock Police.We wanted to take this opportunity to try to prevent others from becoming victims as we're in the prime of festival season [and food trucks are busy]," said Randi Crawford, the Oxford OPP community safety officer.

In a post to X, police urged owners to look intoa program they run called SafeGuard, which connects small businesses with safety officers, who provide consultations and tips for businesses to reduce their risk of being targeted by crime.

"We find a lot of the times trucks are out of the way. They'renot inwell lit areas. They might be out of range of surveillance, things like that," said Crawford, who added criminals usually steal food or wiring fromtrucks.

Crawford suspects the number of crimes committed against food truck owners is likely underreported due to the minor nature of some instances of vandalism or theft, she said.

Roughly 45 kilometres down Highway 401, in London, food truck owners are thankful the situation is different.

That's according to Sean Hickey, the owner of a food truck called Big Daddy Bacon,and a member of the London Food Truck Association.

"There's 15 food trucks in the association and none of us have experienced that, thankfully," Hickeysaid. "A few years ago catalytic converter thefts were happening, but nothing since then."

Still, just because crimes against food trucks haven't been rising in London, it doesn't mean Hickey has his guard down, he said.

Precautions like strong locks, window covers, security cameras, alarms, and more can be helpful to that end, Hickey added.

"There's always a risk. It's part and parcel with the industrywhere you leave your entire business in a parking lot or driveway overnight."