By Don Urquhart
With two new RCMP members joining the Osoyoos detachment – one that arrived in the summer and a second this December – Osoyoos RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Jason Bayda says his team is back to full staffing level. Recent training courses on the coast also mean that regular patrols on Osoyoos Lake will resume next summer.
Bayda made the comments at the recent council meeting where he also introduced his new boss, Staff Sgt. Dan Pollock who has arrived at the Penticton Detachment with responsibility for overseeing the smaller detachments in the South Okanagan including Oliver, Osoyoos and Keremeos.
Prior to this Pollock was posted in Squamish and according to Bayda has a lot of experience in small town policing “so he understands the different nuances of policing in different sized communities so he’ll be a good asset for us.”
As for local resources, Bayda says the local detachment is now at full staffing level with the arrival of Cpl. Heather Bradshaw who is coming to Osoyoos from Penticton in early December, “so that’s a plus for us.”
In the summer Constable Michael Drummond joined the Osoyoos detachment from the Vancouver Police Department and has 32 years of policing experience. He started with the RCMP in Eastern Canada a number of years ago and Bayda related that he always had the desire to return to the RCMP and that brought him to Osoyoos.
“He was a road sergeant in his previous job so he has a lot of supervisory experience and is a great asset we’ve added to the detachment.”
A new Superintendent and Officer in Charge for the South Okanagan-Similkameen based out of Penticton is set to begin that job in mid-December after a Supt. Brian Hunter announced his retirement in the summer.
Insp. Beth McAndie – is due to begin her new role on December 18 with Bayda saying she will be a really good asset for the South Okanagan.
Bayda also underscored that the main priorities for local policing are to reduce property crime and road and marine safety.
One of the most important aspects to reducing property crime, he said, is to do education and constantly remind people of how they can prevent themselves from being a victim of crime.
“We’ve just got to keep getting that message out there to lock your doors, this isn’t the ‘80s any more where we can leave our doors unlocked and not worry about our property,” he underscored. Having security systems in place is also beneficial, he added.
“Please don’t leave your valuables in plain sight. We’re seeing a lot of our thefts are crimes of opportunity where people are seeing items that are of value. They’re being stolen where otherwise if they were hidden the culprit would have simply walked on by.”
On marine safety, one of the things with that is proactive enforcement in the summertime. This has been difficult in recent years because of a shortage of officers trained in operating a police vessel at the local detachment.
“We’re fortunate that this fall we managed to have two more of our officers trained on the vessels. It’s a long training – they do it on the West Coast on the open seas and it’s quite intense,” he said.
With two members having successfully completed the course, Bayda is confident the detachment will be able to do the proper patrols on Osoyoos Lake next summer.
