Staff Sergeant Kevin Charles says while no one likes to be the victim of a crime, it is important for residents to let the police know when they become one.
In coffee shops, on the street and on social media, there are all kinds of stories about residents being victimized by criminals, Charles says it is important to help the police investigate by letting them know.
“It has been brought to my attention there have been crimes occurring in the valley such as break ins and theft of property which has not been reported to police,” he said.
“I want to stress, it is very important that the RCMP be notified of any and all crimes.”
He has heard a number of reasons for people not reporting crimes. It could be because they feel it won’t help, insurance won’t cover the loss, or they don’t want to get involved.
“I have heard people say ‘it’s not that big of a deal,’ or ‘I didn’t want to bother the police,’” he said. “We aren’t naive enough to say we can solve every crime, but we will do our best.”
He said it is helpful for police to know where these incidents are occurring so they can watch for trends or hot spots. That way they can adjust their patrols accordingly. In the case of one or two people involved in a crime spree, knowing where these happen can help the police investigate by establishing timelines.
“That has happened in the past where we have captured people and we have gone back and determined where they travelled and what offense they have committed,” he said. “The public is the eye and ears for us, we can’t be everywhere.”
He said there have been a number of occasions where they have apprehend a criminal in a vehicle or executed a search warrant and discovered what they believed to be stolen items. The police then try to locate the owners of the property.
“We are then still left with a pile of property we believe is stolen however, we can’t prove it because people have never reported to us that it had been stolen,” he said. “We can’t prove it was stolen and now we have to return it to the people we charged.”
“We believe all crime is important. To you, you might think it is not a big deal but to us it is serious because a lot of times that small detail could be a link in a larger case.”
