Crime in Vernon

Castanet Vernon is counting down the top five stories of 2017. At number five is the crime rate in the city.

 

It was not a good year for crime in Vernon.

The once-quiet city at the north end of the Okanagan Valley was labelled the ninth most dangerous city in the country.

According to Statistics Canada, the nation has a crime severity index of 70.96, but Vernon's index sits at 157.

The ranking came out in November and ranked Penticton 16th, Kelowna 34th and Kamloops 23rd.

According to an article in MacLeans Magazine, Vernon has an assault rate of 647.52 per 100,000 while the national average is 430.68.

Robbery is almost double the national average at 110.86 per 100,000 – the Canadian average is 60.09 - and fraud sits at more than double the national average at 670.19.

The Canadian average is 299.05.

However, breaking and entering was almost triple the national average of 438.51 at a whopping 1,234.57 per 100,000.

Vernon RCMP spokesperson Const. Kelly Brett said the statistics do not accurately reflect the community and the rating was based on 2016 crimes, when there were several shooting incidents.

“In 2016, Vernon experienced a number of violent incidents, including three where a firearm was discharged. These incidents, which were linked to the drug trade, would significantly impact the city's violent crime rating,” she said.

Supt. Jim McNamara said he doesn't think “the headlines reflect the situation. That said, I think we need to pay attention to the numbers (and) bring those numbers down. A single crime in a community of this size can have more impact. one prolific offender can take the numbers up significantly.”
However, 2017 did not seem to fair much better.

“The violent crime category will be higher due to two homicides, a suspicious death and an increase in robberies,” said McNamara.

On March 23, the body of Dustin Rogers, 26, was found on Wilson Jackson Road off of Silver Star Road. He was reportedly shot.

Photos on Facebook show Rogers with a large Independent Soldiers tattoo on his torso.

The Independent Soldiers are a B.C.-based criminal gang with mainly Indo-Canadian leadership and alleged links to the Hells Angels.

There have been no arrests in his murder.
In June, a 49-year-old woman was found seriously injured at an apartment unit in the 7300 block of Okanagan Landing Road.

She later died of her injuries in hospital.

Charged in her death is Angelo Gabriel Monfort, 21, who remains in custody.

On July 19, Willie Bartz was found dead in his apartment at Sun Dance Suites.

Police have not declared the death a homicide, but they are calling it suspicious.

A pair of very public brawls also made headlines.

On June 4 a brawl involving several people in front of Vernon nightclub Status.

The fight was captured on video which was then posted to social media. In the video, a man can be seen running up to two people fighting and kicking one of them in the head.

At least 13 people can be seen fighting, including men and women.

Days later, a June 7 donnybrook at the pier on Kal Lake was caught on video and showed several people assaulting a male.

Police said they would step up patrols in the area following a public outcry over the drunken assault.

But it not just violence crime that happened in 2017.

In his second quarterly report of 2017, the head of the Vernon RCMP, Supt. Jim McNamara reported a 1.78 per cent increase in property crime compared to the same time last year.