It’s been a tough three or four months for vehicle theft in and around Williams Lake said RCMP Staff Sgt. Ken Brissard Tuesday during a crime stats update to city council.
Brissard said crime stats at the end of the third quarter in Williams Lake show, in comparison to this time in 2012, vehicle theft is up by 10 per cent and the number of calls for service are up by two per cent.
Vehicle thefts are up with 97 attempted vehicles thefts so far in 2013, compared to 87 reported stolen by this time in 2012.
“We’ve been hit very hard here in the last two or three months with vehicle thefts,” Brissard said. “Out of the 97 there were 58 that were actually stolen, 40 were attempts but they weren’t able to steal them.”
Recently the RCMP have made some gains he said.
“One of our most prolific car thieves, we’ve had him relocated to Kamloops. I’m sure the City of Kamloops doesn’t appreciate that but we’ve seen a marked decline since the exporting of that individual out of our community.”
The RCMP strives to prosecute people who cannot live by the laws, but there are times when the RCMP are not able to prosecute, he added.
“When we don’t have the evidence,” he said. “We know who is doing it. We have a very good idea who is doing it so in those cases if we’re hitting a brick wall, we will concentrate on disrupting it.”
Calls for service can be self-generated by RCMP members or be calls from the public.
“Some of that two per cent increase is due to self-generated work,” Brissard said.
While vehicles thefts are up, other crime stats show a decline.
Theft from vehicles is down by 23 per cent, totalling 108. Break and enter to residences is down by 38 per cent, numbering 66. Break and enter to businesses is down 85 per cent, numbering 13. Spousal assaults are down 13 per cent, numbering 76. Mischief is down by 14 per cent, totalling 349. Robberies are down by 67 per cent, totalling 12 and false alarms are down by 29 per cent, totalling 363.
Similar to campaigns against impaired driving, Brissard said he is hopeful that campaigns against domestic violence will have the same impact in the future.
“Drunk driving was accepted by the last generation. This generation doesn’t accept that behaviour. I personally believe we’re going to get there with domestic violence,” Brissard said.
