Sgt. Randy Bosch, who took over as commander of the Osoyoos RCMP Detachment in June, met with the entire Osoyoos Town Council for the first time on Monday. He spoke about the growing problem of property and petty crimes and asked for the town’s support in holding a public town hall meeting to address the issue. Bosch had previously met with Mayor Sue McKortoff to discuss policing. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Local residents are being asked to attend a community town hall meeting organized by the RCMP to discuss the serious increase in property and petty crime in Osoyoos over the past several months.
The new commander of the Osoyoos RCMP detachment told Town of Osoyoos council Monday that property crime and petty crime has become rampant in our community over the past several months.
Sgt. Randy Bosch has recommended a town hall meeting be held to discuss the problem and educate the public on what they can do to not become a victim of crime.
Bosch, who took over as detachment commander six months ago, told council he would like the community town hall meeting to be held in January, but agreed postponing it until early March, as recommended by several members of council, is a good idea as many local residents have left town or will be leaving soon as they travel outside of Osoyoos during the winter months.
Bosch acknowledged there has been a spiked increase in motor vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles, break and enters into residences and businesses and internet and mass marketing fraud schemes over the past several months.
The increase in criminal activity in Osoyoos has remained over an extended period of several months, prompting him to suggest a community town hall meeting would benefit local residents, said Bosch.
“My goal is to try and educate the public and prevent these crimes from happening to them and to take the time to work with us to prevent them in the future,” said Bosch.
There are many things that residents can do to help reduce crime and to ensure they are not victimized and this would be discussed in further detail at the town hall meeting, said Bosch.
“This is very much an education thing,” he said. “We’re not going to stop property crime and we’re not going to stop the frauds, but it is my goal to reduce these things.”
Mayor Sue McKortoff said she met privately with Bosch about a month ago in her office to discuss the significant increase in property and petty crime taking place in Osoyoos and she fully supports the idea of a town hall meeting to let a large contingent of local residents gather information and voice their opinions on what can be done about the problem.
Engaging local citizens about such an important issue is crucial in trying to reduce the problem, she said.
“They need to look at ways they can help … if that means making sure they lock their car doors,” she said.
The community town hall meeting will be a great opportunity for local residents to get valuable information about what they can do to reduce the threat of being a victim of crime and also talk to police about their concerns, said McKortoff.
Bosch said the amount of elder fraud schemes currently in place in Osoyoos is staggering and information will be provided to local residents about what they can do to avoid being victimized at the upcoming meeting.
Coun. Mike Campol said the town hall meeting would allow local residents to gather important information, while also letting criminals know something is being done on a community-wide level to alter their behavior.
“Being proactive is part of the solution … and having a meeting like this lets the criminals know something is being done,” he said.
Barry Romanko, the town’s chief administrative officer, said the town would gladly offer the Sonora Community Centre to hold the meeting and town staff would take care of setting up chairs and help in advertising and promoting the event.
Coun. C. J. Rhodes said he’s heard many complaints about the increasing crime problem in town and he strongly supports the proposed community town hall meeting concept.
“This is a great project to have in our community right now,” he said. “The educational component will be very beneficial … as residents will become aware of what’s going on.”
It’s important this meeting attracts as many local residents as possible and that’s why he believes holding it in early March as opposed to January is a good idea, said Rhodes.
“We would want to maximize the number of people who would attend,” he said.
Many local businesses are closed over the winter months and many of those same owners would be back up and running by early March and would want to be part of this meeting, he said.
After hearing from several councillors, Bosch agreed that holding the meeting in March to ensure strong attendance is a really good idea.
Coun. Carol Youngberg suggested in the interim that Bosch or other officers with the RCMP might consider making presentations at the local high school and elementary school about the growing crime problem in town.
Many school aged children wouldn’t attend a town hall meeting, but would benefit from a presentation by police about the crime problem in town and what they can do to try and help, said Youngberg.
A similar spike in property and petty crime is taking place in Oliver and wheels are in motion to hold a similar meeting in that community, said Bosch.
He considered holding a town hall meeting for residents in both communities, but said that provided organizational challenges as the Sonora Centre likely couldn’t handle the number of people who would want to attend.
Bosch said he will talk with liaison officer with the RCMP to finalize a date for the community town hall meeting and get back to council within a few weeks.
The event will be heavily publicized and promoted by local media and he’s confident a large crowd will show up to the meeting in March, said Bosch.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
