Lyonel Doherty
Times-Chronicle
While violent crime is down in Osoyoos, theft from vehicles continues to plague the community, according to the latest RCMP statistics.
The quarterly report for April-June 2021 shows that violent crime (total) is down 43 per cent (from 53 incidents in the second quarter of 2020 to 30 incidents in the second quarter of 2021).
This includes 19 incidents of assault causing bodily harm in Q2 2020 compared to eight incidents this quarter.
Sex offences are down 33 per cent (from six in Q2 2020 to four this quarter).
There were 10 incidents of uttering threats in Q2 2020 compared to one in Q2 2021, a decrease of 90 per cent.
Domestic violence is also down 75 per cent (from eight incidents in Q2 2020 to two incidents this quarter).
Under property crime in Osoyoos, theft from vehicles is up 191 per cent (from 11 incidents in Q2 2020 to 32 incidents in Q2 2021).
Osoyoos RCMP Sgt. Jason Bayda said
41 per cent of the theft from vehicles was from the exterior of the vehicles. Most commonly, this included licence plates and validation tags. A few catalytic converters were also stolen, Bayda pointed out.
The officer noted that another 34 per cent was theft from unlocked vehicles, and nine per cent involved the theft of garage door openers in order to gain entry into the garage and house.
Bayda said many people keep their garage door openers on their visor where it is easily seen and stolen.
“We recommend garage door openers be hidden either in a locked glove box or console, making them much harder to locate and steal.”
Fraud in Osoyoos is up from nine incidents to 15, while general theft is up from 11 incidents to 16. However, shoplifting is down 86 per cent (from seven incidents to one).
Mischief to property is down 46 per cent (from 26 cases to 14), while break and enter to sheds and outbuildings has increased from one incident to five.
Residential break-ins in Osoyoos have decreased 56 per cent (from nine to four), while business break-ins have gone down 33 per cent (from three to two).
Auto theft has gone up 150 per cent (from two incidents in Q2 2020 to five incidents this quarter).
In total, Criminal Code files in Osoyoos are down six per cent (from 167 files to 157).
Bayda said they are seeing an increase in fraud via telephone. He noted most of these come from fraudulent call centres overseas in which the person is told they have a warrant issued for them for a CRA-related issue or due to a suspicious package being intercepted with their name on it.
Bayda said most of the fraud cases in Osoyoos were reported for information only and did not involve the loss of money.
“We recommend anyone receiving these calls to not engage the caller. Never send money.”
Bayda said agencies do not call people regarding warrants and do not take payments over the phone.
Traffic incident was the top call for service for the Osoyoos RCMP this quarter with 61 reported incidents. This was followed by property (54), theft (42), alarm (34), disturbance (33), check wellbeing (30), abandoned 911 (29), assist general public (29), assist fire/ambulance (27) and suspicious circumstances (27).
