Whether it was too cold or thieves were overcome with the Christmas spirit, there was no suspicious behaviour reported during late night security patrols in December.
Oliver’s Corporate Officer Diane Vaykovich recently updated Town council on the patrols carried out by SOS Security from December 19-29.
“Virtually no suspicious activity was observed, which may have been attributed to the cold weather and snowy conditions,” she said.
In mid-December council allocated $3,200 towards additional night-time security patrols to supplement crime prevention carried out by the Oliver RCMP. The Town was invoiced $832.65 for the patrols.
Don Moore from SOS Security reported they made vehicle patrols (generally from midnight to 4 am) of the Town offices, downtown business area, on Fairview Road to the high school, community centre area and the industrial park.
Moore said patrol staff were watching for any sign of criminal activity including anyone on foot or in a vehicle who seemed to be lingering in the area, or made repeated appearances without an apparent reason.
According to Moore, experience shows that in nearly every case where someone is planning a break-in or other crime, that the area will be cased out beforehand.
“On each night absolutely no suspicious activity of any kind was observed,” Moore said.
“We noted that the cold weather and snow seemed to reduce the normal level of foot and vehicular traffic as is normally seen.”
Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes said simply having this security presence in the community is important in deterring crime.
Vaykovich said no additional security patrols in the community have been scheduled at this time.
