Brock residents urging police to reduce property crime

Oct 24, 2016 | 5:06 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s a problem that continues to plague Kamloops: an increase in the amount of property crime happening around the city.

On Monday, during a police committee meeting at City Hall, Superintendent Brad Mueller from the Kamloops RCMP identified a 27% increase in property crime in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the same period last year. 

Some of the property crime is happening in Brocklehurst, and some area residents attended the meeting, including Ginette Bauer from the Brocklehurst Community Association. 

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“Personally, we haven’t had anything happen to us, but if you look at the Brock Watch group page, there’s at least one or two, maybe three, posts in the morning. They’re saying ‘our vehicle was broken into last night,’” says Bauer.

Bauer was in attendance with two other Brock residents concerned about the prevalence of crime in that part of the city, and Mueller was appreciative of their presence.

“A number of neighbourhoods are now stepping up,” he says. “I’ve always said that we need to work with the community. The police can’t be responsible for community safety entirely.”

Mueller says it’s been the busiest quarter since he arrived in 2013 with more than 12,500 calls for service — up 10% this quarter. 

But the RCMP says it’s shifted resources to try and tackle the jump in property crime this year, the force has seen success in the increase in officers on foot patrol.

As for the concerned Brock residents, they learned today that calling the RCMP directly, not keeping the crimes among neighbours, is the key if they hope to curb some of the crime that’s been plauging their area. 

“Our city police are hard at work, trying to rectify the situation out here,” says Bauer. “But they’re not aware of a lot of the phone calls or a lot of the situations that are happening out here. They want you to phone it in.”

The Brocklehurst Community Association, along with the city’s Community Safety team, is hosting a forum on November 9 from 7-9 p.m. at the Brock Seniors’ Centre.