By Lyonel Doherty
The good news is several crime statistics are down in Oliver. The not-so-good news is that RCMP resources are also down and the new prison is adding to their workload.
That was the message delivered by Oliver RCMP Sgt. Blaine Gervais at Town council last Monday.
The commander reported that the correctional centre currently has about 160 inmates, with local RCMP responding to 53 calls (at the facility) per month.
“It does impact us . . . it hasn’t been huge (yet),” he said, but noted there is potential for 200 calls per month if the prison reaches its capacity.
Gervais said Oliver RCMP has one sergeant, one corporal and nine constables, but they are down 25 per cent now due to staffing issues.
The commander said he is “banging on every door” to get more resources.
“We are in the lineup, but every detachment is down one or two members.”
Mayor Ron Hovanes said the Town of Oliver has been assured by the province that additional RCMP would be made available to cover increased calls to the prison.
The Ministry of Justice previously told the Chronicle that the facility would not be a burden on local RCMP.
“We’re going to make sure we keep pushing that,” Hovanes said.
Gervais presented his quarterly report on crime, noting that business break-ins are down 31 per cent (from 52 in 2015 to 36 last year).
“We’ve been patrolling on foot to make ourselves more visible,” he noted.
The officer added that members are also increasing their street checks to identify new people in the community.
Assaults are down 27 per cent (71 in 2015, compared to 52 in 2016).
Gervais said residential break-ins are down 51 per cent (35 in 2015 and 17 last year).
Other break-ins are down 38 per cent, while theft of vehicles is down 36 per cent (from 76 to 48).
Shoplifting is also down (48 per cent).
Gervais reported that fraud is up 28 per cent (from 25 to 32).
Disturbances are up 103 per cent (from 39 incidents in 2015 to 79 in 2016).
He also noted that drug possession is up 50 per cent (from 22 to 33).
The biggest increase was impaired driving at 167 per cent (from three cases in 2015 to eight cases last year).
Last year the RCMP issued 13, 24-hour suspensions, compared to one in 2015.
When asked why crime statistics are down in Oliver, Gervais said police have either chased the culprits out of town or the offenders are in custody.
The commander said members have been focusing on property crimes.
“We know who they (offenders) are and where they live.”
He pointed out that officers spent two full days monitoring one particular residence, and are currently monitoring six people under house arrest. “We check on them daily.”
Gervais said the detachment spent some time investigating a targeted home invasion and dealing with a fugitive on a Canada-wide warrant. And recently members assisted border officials with a search warrant on an Oliver home in relation to an illegal firearms case.
Gervais was accompanied by Rick Dellebuur from Crime Stoppers, who promoted their “Log It or Lose It” campaign.
He is encouraging residents to properly identify their valuables by taking photographs of them or recording the serial numbers.
Dellebuur pointed out that police have a bay full of recovered stolen property that belongs to people. But it’s very difficult to return it when they don’t know who owns it. He said people should take the time to identify their belongings, which helps lay charges against the thieves.
