Police remind residents that the best way to protect yourself from crime is to not give criminals the opportunity to make you a victim.
This comes in light of a number of break-ins to vehicles being reported in the area.
Corporal Kevin Charles, acknowledges there have been a number of reports of thefts from cars. The problem is also widely reported on social media and it appears that different neighbourhoods throughout the valley are being targeted. He says they have made some progress in investigating some of these incidents, but police also need the support of the public.
“There were some kids just the other day who were actually caught breaking into a car,” said Charles. “We really want people who do have information to come forward. There are people who might have knowledge, but they are friends of friends, or they don’t want to get involved, so that makes it difficult for us as well.”
He asks if people see anything suspicious, to report it to police right way. He also urges residents to take some simple steps to protect themselves.
“Don’t wait, call right away,” said Charles.
Other simple steps include making sure vehicles are locked, valuables are removed and there is nothing in plain sight to tempt potential thieves.
“People are leaving valuables in their cars with the doors unlocked and in plain sight. Unfortunately we are not living in a world where we can do that, because there are people who will take advantage of people’s good nature and victimize them.”
“We do what we can with enforcement and patrols, but we can’t be everywhere at once, we have kids skulking around at night.”
The RCMP is deploying another tool to help patrol. This is the bike unit.
“That is why we are putting guys on bike patrol, at night when we can. These are the kind of crimes we want to target, and we simply can’t with guys driving around.”
