Even now, as the holiday season is upon us, there are still some in the community that are looking for crimes of opportunity.
Early this morning, December 23, there was a report of what appears to be an attempted break-in at Drumheller Chrysler. Salesman at the dealership, Jamie Worman, says it appears the culprits attempted to gain access close to one of the rear service bays. A delivery truck arrived shortly after, which likely scared the person responsible off.
Drumheller RCMP Staff Sergeant Kevin Charles tells The Mail they are continuing to see this kind of activity in the valley.
“There are still people running around committing property crimes,” he said, adding that “So far we have been pretty successful at charging people, but it is also that time of year where people ramp up their criminal activity because they know there are crimes of opportunity with presents and gifts and people traveling out of town.”
“We want to stress that people watch out for one another and be vigilant and report suspicious behavior to us.”
In fact, overnight the RCMP responded to a couple call of suspicious behavior and Charles says he appreciates this.
“I like seeing calls for suspicious persons because while that means we don’t know if a crime is being committed, but there is something there that is not right in the neighbourhood, we like that,” he said.
He adds there is a real and serious correlation between the increase of property crimes and the tough economy.
‘It is unfortunate because people have a choice. There are options available to them, but unfortunately, some turn to crime to make ends meet. A lot of times though that doesn’t mean putting food on the table, it mean feeding addictions or other issues. I want to stress there are services and programs available to the public, even here in town. The first step is asking for help and reaching out to these programs and services.”
If anyone has information on this or any other recent crime, they can contact the Drumheller RCMP at 403-823-7590.
