TRUMPETING A DOMINANT RETURN STORY, PAGE A10
TUESDAY
Rick Howie photo
K A M L O O P S
THIS WEEK
ONLINE ALL THE TIME: BREAKING NEWS AND UPDATES AT KAMLOOPSTHISWEEK.COM Tuesday, January 28, 2014 X Volume 26 No. 10 www.kamloopsthisweek.com X 30 cents at Newsstands
REPORTED CRIME ON RISE
Skye and Courtney Buck.
Police blame organized crime for nine per cent jump By Andrea Klassen STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
Kamloops RCMP say groups of organized criminals trying to establish a foothold in Kamloops are partially to blame for a nearly nine per cent rise in the city’s reported crime rate in 2013. According to yearend figures released to the city’s police committee this week, Mounties dealt with 14,499 actual offences in 2013, up from 13,348 in 2012. “We are seeing groups that are reaching out into Kamloops, trying to get established in drug activity,” RCMP Supt. Brad Mueller told
SUPT. BRAD MUELLER: Has re-organized units within the detachment.
the committee. Drug and property crimes accounted for much of the increase in criminal activity and Mueller said the two types of offences are often tied together. “Our intelligence shows us there’s a very strong correlation between drug activity and
property crime and, in many cases, we’re seeing the same groups of people in both,” he said. Mueller said his detachment has conducted an internal review and decided to re-organize its specialproject unit into a target-enforcement unit that focuses on drugs, firearms, organized crime and property crime. No new officers are involved in the effort, but Mueller said the unit is more closely integrated with others in the force and will have more flexibility in its investigations. He said the city is already seeing results from the change, including 39 charges
laid against 19 people in December after a three-month undercover investigation by the new unit. Most of the charges are for cocaine trafficking. Besides organized crime, Mueller believes a portion of the increase comes from population growth and some is the result of local RCMP having more people doing police work. While Kamloops Mounties have in the recent past often had up to 20 per cent of positions vacant, Mueller said the force now has nearly all the bodies it is supposed to have, which, he said, allows for more investigations and more arrests.
By Cam Fortems STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
A proposed playground project dedicated to a beloved Clearwater couple who died in an accident in 2012 will begin construction this spring after it received funding under a national community contest. Clearwater Coun. Shelley Sim said the park dedicated to Courtney and Skye Buck at a dilapidated courtyard at Clearwater’s Raft River elementary received $120,000 worth of funding from Aviva Canada through its community competition. Among the first to hear the news were the young couple’s parents. “Probably the most exciting moment is when we told the families this morning,” Sim told KTW.
Memorial playground a reality The couple’s car left HIghway 5 North on the evening of Dec. 9, 2012, landing in North Thompson River about 17 kilometres south of Clearwater. The couple were teachers. Skye had played on UCC’s basketball team. Courtney was pregnant at the time of her death. Sim said the funding allows the playground to be expanded with some additional natural features. Construction will be ready to go when snows clear in April. “There is no area of play there right now,” she said. The grants were awarded based on internet voting. Sim credited residents region-wide with their efforts. “We couldn’t have done it without the support of the North Thompson and Kamloops.”
CIABATTA BACON CHEESEBURGER
Visit us at these locations:
• Kelowna • Penticton • Salmon Arm • Valleyview • Rutland • Vernon • West Kelowna • North Kamloops • Sahali
©2014 Wendy’s International, LLC.