A surveillance video shows a suspect breaking into Dairy Queen. He appears to have a moustache and was wearing a royal blue hoodie. (Photo supplied)
As a rash of break-ins continues at Osoyoos businesses, the RCMP is advising business owners to take steps to reduce the chance of being targeted.
In the early morning hours Saturday, both Dairy Queen and Tim Hortons restaurants were broken into and in both cases cash register drawers containing floats were stolen.
The break-ins follow numerous others at Osoyoos businesses in recent weeks.
Video surveillance captured the break-ins at both locations, but the quality of the video makes it difficult to determine if the same suspects were involved, even though the break-ins occurred minutes apart.
The break-in at Dairy Queen occurred at 4:17 a.m. Surveillance video shows a small car arriving with two male suspects dressed in royal blue hoodies.
One suspect had a white emblem on the front of the hoodie. One has either a moustache or a goatee.
A male suspect smashed the front door, entered and stole a cash drawer. The cash drawer was located later that morning – without the cash – behind the Osoyoos Bottle Depot.
Then at 4:45 a.m. the Tim Hortons restaurant was broken into. RCMP said the drive-in window was pried open by a male suspect, who reached in with his hands and pulled out the cash drawer.
The suspect appeared to be wearing black clothing with gloves and he fled to the south after the break-in.
These incidents and others have prompted police to warn businesses not to leave cash on the premises at night.
The rash of break-ins in recent weeks has not just been hitting Osoyoos, but also other communities in the Okanagan Valley, said Cpl. Jason Bayda of the Osoyoos RCMP Detachment.
“It’s very possible that similar people are involved or the same groups are involved and they’re travelling,” said Bayda. “One of the concerns is that a lot of businesses are being broken into simply for their cash, for their floats.
“Really the only way to deter these people or slow this down is not to keep the float on site. We strongly suggest that businesses remove their floats at night and even put signs in their windows saying no cash is on the premises at night.”
While video surveillance systems are a big help to police in solving crimes when they can’t catch the suspects in the act, Bayda said that if people invest in security systems they should make sure that it’s a good one that will work at night.
“For us to get very grainy video footage, it doesn’t really help us more than not having anything,” he said. “They’re not helping unless you’re getting a decent quality that we can put out to the public to help identify the persons involved.”
Bayda also noted that individuals also can take more steps to deter thefts.
“I can’t stress enough that people really need to deter crime in their area by removing valuables,” he said. “Don’t leave valuables in your car that are seen. Don’t leave your personal ID in your car.”
Osoyoos RCMP have an engraver that can be used to engrave identifying information such as a driver’s license number into valuables. The public can arrange to use it by contacting Osoyoos RCMP, Bayda said.
“If they are stolen, it’s much easier for us if we recover something to find the owner,” he said. “We can put that on a national database with your driver’s license and a description of the product and that database can be queried by police anywhere across Canada.”
Osoyoos RCMP can be contacted at 250-495-7236.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
The car used by the Dairy Queen burglars was captured on video. (Photo supplied)
One of the Dairy Queen burglary suspects was wearing a blue hoodie with a white insignia on the front. (Photo supplied)
