Auto body expert advises people to lock tailgates to prevent theft

The answer to why somebody would steal tailgates is still a bit of a mystery to people around Regina after a string of thefts.

A Regina police officer who deals with property crime told News Talk Radio that while stolen tailgates are not unheard of, they are certainly rare. He added that it’s not a petty crime, noting that most of the newer trucks have sensors or back-up cameras on the tailgates. He said police are treating this as an active investigation.

People who work in the auto body industry are also wondering what somebody would do with 11 stolen tailgates.

“It’s pretty easy actually to steal a tailgate, I probably shouldn’t say that though, but anyway, it is easy. It just takes 10 minutes to pop off really,” said Mike Mario, who owns Regina Auto Body.

He said most new trucks have locks on tailgates that would prevent theft, but he said it’s likely that the stolen tailgates were not locked.

Older truck tailgates might be pretty plain, but the newer ones do not come cheap. Mario said the auto body shop just finished replacing one of the stolen tailgates on a GM truck and final cost was just over $3,000.

“The list of parts are like the handle, the lock cylinder – so this one wasn’t locked and that’s why they stole it – the tailgate latch, then there’s a bunch of control rods inside, and the tailgate cables that hold the tailgate up,” he said.

Mario estimates the higher end truck tailgates could run up to $5,000 to replace.

While it is possible to snip the wiring for sensors or back-up cameras and hook it back up again, he said usually you have to replace the whole system to make it work, so he guesses that the thieves would be targeting the tailgates themselves.

Regina police said 11 tailgates were stolen from: 2016 Ford f-250s, 2014 and 2016 Ford f-150s and a 2016 Dodge Ram. The thefts occurred on the 400 block of Albert Street North and the 700 block of Broad Street between March 18 and March 24. Officers noted that most of the stolen tailgates appeared to be white.