Sgt. Randy Bosch, spoke to Osoyoos town council about crime statistics, a public meeting on crime and other policing matters. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Vehicle thefts have increased notably in Osoyoos, RCMP Sgt. Randy Bosch told town council last week.
Bosch, the commanding officer of the Osoyoos RCMP detachment, appeared at council’s regular Jan. 18 council meeting to give a summary of police calls in the fourth quarter of 2015. He also provided some comparisons of overall crime totals between 2014 and 2015.
Vehicle theft increased 24 per cent over 2014, Bosch said.
“(RCMP) members have been working to reduce the number of auto thefts as well as other thefts,” Bosch told council. “In this quarter the number of thefts has decreased due to the arrest of some prolific offenders.”
There were 28 thefts of vehicles in 2015 and 26 reported thefts from vehicles, according to a chart Bosch presented to councillors. The thefts from vehicles decreased from 89 in 2014.
Last year also saw 24 break-ins at businesses and eight at residences along with 12 other break and enters.
Other thefts totaled 49 and there were four reports of shoplifting in 2015.
Topping the list of crimes in 2015 was mischief, with 57 incidents reported in 2015. This crime usually refers to vandalism.
Second was causing a disturbance, with 52 reported incidents, most of them between April and September.
Bosch told council that police received 309 calls for service in the last quarter of 2015, which is down from 588 calls received in the third quarter (July to September). This, he said, reflects the fact that Osoyoos is a vacation spot with more activity in the summer.
There were 90 criminal code files among the calls received in the fourth quarter, he said.
Bosch also requested that a public meeting about the increase in crime in Osoyoos be moved to April instead of March, as originally planned, due to a family obligation.
He also told council that police were not able to use all of $10,000 in a town grant for foot, boat, ATV and bicycle patrols to reduce offenses committed on water and at beach areas. Only $5,100 of this could be used because officers were kept busy with the wildfires and other situations and weren’t available for these patrols.
The Citizens on Patrol program was not fully operational last summer due to a lack of volunteers and the officer in charge being ill for an extended period, Bosch said.
“I am arranging for a meeting for this month in order to see if we can put this back together because it is an extremely helpful resource to us,” he said. “I like the program and I have for years. It’s very helpful.”
Coun. Mike Campol asked Bosch if he planned to hold a public meeting about fraud toward vulnerable people such as seniors. Campol suggested many fraud victims may not be complaining about being defrauded either because they don’t realize it’s happening or because they are too embarrassed.
Bosch said there were no plans for a separate forum on this issue, but that fraud would be discussed at the planned community meeting.
Nonetheless, he agreed with a suggestion by Mayor Sue McKortoff to assess at the community meeting whether there was a need for a further public initiative to raise awareness about fraud.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
