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The Similkameen
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Volume 65 Issue 43
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Break and enters skyrocket in 2015
Princeton RCMP investigated 57 break and enters between April 1 and September 30, 2015 – approximately five times more crimes than during the same period last year. The rash of incidents is attributed primarily to transient criminals who struck numerous communities in the valley. Andrea DeMeer Spotlight Staff
A lack of available officers and a huge spike in break and enters created stress for Princeton’s RCMP detachment over the last six months. The good news, according to commander sergeant Barry Kennedy, is that both situations are improving. Kennedy provided his semi-annual report to town council at a recent meeting. There were 57 break and enters during the first half of the year – approximate five times the number of incidents during the same time in 2014. Police have charged several people in relation to six of the break and enters and more charges are expected in the near future, said Kennedy. “Overall we are seeing an increase in our property crime rate but we are also seeing an increase in charges with respect to these offenses.” Kennedy said the dramatic increase in break and enters was a situation faced by many detachments within the valley as the perpetrators were transient. “There was a group of people going from community to community committing these crimes. They were not local,”
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said Kennedy. He said that police received invaluable assistance from the community in solving some of the incidents – keen-eyed residents who called police with reports of suspicious activity. “I cannot stress enough how important it is for people to phone us,” he said. “A number of property crimes were solved and charges laid because of the response from the public in reporting information.” Due to circumstances including one officer on medical leave, the detachment was often short staffed over the past six months, said Kennedy, adding approval to hire to replace that vacant position was received recently. “Over the spring and summer our resources were very limited, but we still managed to provide good service to the community,” he said. During many shifts the detachment area was covered only by three or four officers, and often reinforcements from Penticton were required. Between April 1 and September 30, police in Princeton responded to 1,296 calls for service, 1,031 of them within town limits. That’s compared to 1,199 calls for service during the same time last year, 986 within town. There were 90 vehicle collisions, 40 resulting in personal injuries and two fatalities in the last six months. By com-
parison last year there were 75 traffic accidents, 32 involving personal injury and no fatalities. “Traffic safety issues continue to be a concern and just over the summer months police have written a total of 526 tickets in the Princeton area,” said Kennedy. Also in the past six months police charged eight people with impaired driving. Targeting drug sellers and prolific offenders continue to be priorities for local police, Kennedy said. “During the past six months police have targeted several individuals related to the drug trade. These actions have resulted in the seizure of drugs and resulted in charges against four persons within the local drug trade.” Focusing on the activities of offenders in the community who have been released on bail or probation led to 13 charges over the past six months against people breaching the conditions of their release. Kennedy said police are vigilant in making sure offenders abide by their conditions, including “knocking on people’s doors at 2 am in the morning to make sure they are there.” “It sends a message and that message is if you are going to come into this community and live you are going to abide by your conditions or go back to jail.”
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