Crime Up in Latest Police Report

The Vernon/North Okanagan RCMP 3rd quarter report is out and shows an increase in crime.

The report says criminal code cases were up 5.59 per cent over the same period last year while property crime rose by 6.79 per cent.

It shows one homicide from July involving a Vernon man that remains under investigation.

Drug investigations during the summer resulted in the arrests of three people, including one who was found to be smuggling drugs into the Kamloops Correctional Center.

Charges of trafficking in cocaine and fentanyl were laid in two of those cases while the third involved heroin and fentyanyl.

Vernon/ North Okanagan RCMP Traffic Enforcement Officers continue to find impaired drivers.

The 3rd quarter report shows that in the Vernon/Coldstream area July to September,  88 impaired drivers were taken off the road by way of suspension or charge.

Sixteen motorists were hit with Distracted driving charges.

Rural officers caught 24 impaired drivers and 3 distracted drivers.