Crime stats, supporting wildfire efforts, battling opioid epidemic and more in RCMP report

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These calls resulted in 436 charges forwarded, 324 prisoners taken into custody, 27 police dog services interventions and 294 Street Entrenched Policing Target Analysis (SEPTA) files in the Vernon and Coldstream areas in the second quarter.

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Wanted person arrested and guns and drugs seized at a Kelowna residence

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To date, there have been 11,404 calls for service, 9,947 dispatch and 1,457 self generated.

RCMP Superintendent Shauna Baher presented breakdowns of the statistics based on a year to year comparison . She said while most crimes stay flat through most of the year, opportunistic crimes like theft From vehicles always tends to see increases in the second quarter.

Baher said the increase is usually caused by items being left out in yards or patios, and car windows or doors left open.

“Things that normally come up in the summer, like people bring their bikes out, they’re using them again, they’re on the back of vehicles, so obviously we get a lot of high-end bike thefts this time of year,” said Baher.

“We also get a lot of crime associated to people leaving things in their vehicles and not being secured.”

She points to garage door openers as being one of the most valuable things that a person could spot in a vehicle and steal.

“Your garage remote will be there but so will all your registration papers that say your address on it, so you could be camping somewhere and someone could go and get your paperwork and then they can go to your house and get into your house that way, so please just remove that [garage remote from you vehicle].”

She adds leaving wallets and purses in cars are very attractive to thieves, and having these items stolen can also lead to credit card fraud or identity theft, so she strongly advises people not leave these items in vehicles.

Baher also notes that a lot of thieves won’t bother breaking into a secured vehicle, and to always make sure doors are locked and windows are rolled up.

The Q2 report also outlines more work done on the drug front with the ongoing Opioid Pilot Project that involves education and Naloxone training for those at risk of overdose.

In the second quarter, the program saw 57 trained with how to use Naloxone, 31 others were referred to substance abuse resources, three individuals were presented with educational videos, and 32 Naloxone kits were handed out to people at risk of overdose.

Since October of 2016, the Vernon North Okanagan has also administered Naloxone to people experiencing overdose, and in that time 22 different officers have saved 33 people’s lives.

Also during the presentation, Baher reported that some new positions are being created in the force.

A member is becoming a School Liaison Officer for School District 22, with a focus on building relationships with youth this upcoming school year.

“So his day to day role will be visiting the schools, basically befriending the kids, providing presentations. And then he will also take part in doing things with the school district as it relates to suspension or some sort of threat, he will be that person,” said Baher.

“So it’s very important that we have that role. I’m a very big believer that youth and police, when they get to know each other, work really well together, sometimes that police officer can be someone of trust for them, that they might not feel comfortable asking their parents but they might feel comfortable asking the School Liaison Officer.”

Baher adds one of the primary focuses for the School Liaison Officer will be talking to kids about social media and sharing information and photos, particularly nude or incriminating photos.

“There’s so many different apps, so many different things, so it’s important that the School Liaison Officer has the ability to sort of come in, talk about things that are paramount, talk about the safety of individuals, because let’s face it, when things happen on the internet with images, say there’s a naked image or something shared, that’s out there and will be shared continually. We don’t have the ability to just go and take that back.”

The superintendent said it’s important that students are taught to make the right decisions, as the wrong ones could end up haunting someone for the rest of their life.

The Vernon North Okanagan is also bolstering it’s Forensic Identification Sector. The individual, who is expected to join the force in the next 90 days or so, will basically act as an apprentice through the RCMP’s mentorship process.

“They will sort of be, because they’re not a fully qualified IDENT (Forensic Identification Specialist) yet, they will start out and be basically mentored by the two IDENT people here, do a lot of courses. They will start with sort of smaller types of crime to try and identify fingerprints and that type of thing.”

After going through the mentorship process, the individual will be able to qualify as a Forensic Identification Specialist.

Meantime, the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP detachment has been bolstered by the addition of officers from across the province to assist with wildfire operations.

There are currently 63 additional members patrolling evacuation areas, assisting in evacuating people from those areas, and setting up roadblocks.

Baher said the addition of these officers is welcome, as it allows policing efforts in the jurisdiction to be maintained while work to support the firefighting efforts can also be done.