(Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

VANDALISM AT THE FOOD BANK

Kamloops Food Bank increasing security after transport truck damaged by thieves

Sep 16, 2020 | 4:18 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops Food Bank staff and volunteers arrived at work Monday morning (Sept. 14) to find one of their transport trucks had been seriously vandalized.

With wiring cut out and tubes slashed, the vehicle was damaged to the point where it wasn’t driveable. After reviewing security footage of two people sneaking under the truck around 1:00 a.m, Executive Director Bernadette Siracky says it was obvious the non-profit’s work vehicle had been targeted.

“When we all got to work, we were really disappointed,” she says. “That truck is really part of our team. It does a lot of heavy lifting for us and we did a lot of fundraising for that truck. That truck cost $180,000 for us to purchase.”

The vehicle is one of three transport trucks the Food Bank uses to pick up food donations from grocery stores. They’ve paid for a rental truck in the meantime, but that’s not the end of the expenses associated to the damage. With much of the wiring ripped out from under the vehicle, repairs will come at a sizable cost to the food bank.

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“It’s quite an expense. It’s probably $3,500 to $4,000 in damages,” says Geoff Tupholme, Service Manager of IRL International Truck Centre in Kamloops. “Not to mention the Food Bank has to rent another truck. So yeah, it’s a big put out for the company.”

IRL is working to repair the vehicle and Tupholme says they’ve also had other commercial vehicles come in for repairs who have had the copper wiring stolen.

“The diameter of the wiring and such is so small that I’m surprised that they (the suspects) are actually taking the effort to take that wiring out of there,” he says, “I just don’t understand it.”

(Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today)

The food bank has seen trash and drug paraphernalia left around the property in the past, but has never dealt with vandalism to their vehicles or equipment. Warehouse Operations Manager Wes Graham says to prevent future theft they’re going to add to the existing security cameras, which will mean more expenses.

“We do now have to look at getting a sensor monitored camera. We might have to have on-site monitoring from a security company overnight, and then of course getting some sort of gate system,” he explains. “Because when this happens once, you go, ‘Well, we have to react. We have to do something to prevent it from happening again.'”

Siracky says Kamloops RCMP have the security footage and are investigating the incident. As the Food Bank looks into heightened security, the not-for-profit hopes this criminally-caused inconvenience won’t happen again.

“We’ve never experienced something like this before so it was really highly disappointing. And our clients who were here when we found out, they were highly disappointed as well,” she adds, noting that she feels the suspects were not part of their clientele. “Our clients are very respectful and dedicated to this organization in all honesty. They were just as disappointed and rightfully upset as we were.”