Vernon

Despite a normal-paced holiday long weekend in the North Okanagan, RCMP continue to experience a spike in petty theft and a high number of traffic-related matters in Vernon.

“Cells were busy,” says Vernon RCMP Cpl. Gerry Kovacs.

But RCMP say the two percent increase in crime this quarter is still below national averages, quoting crime from the first two-quarters of the year was down 14 per cent.

“We’re talking about spikes in activity that are weekly, biweekly, but crime is down. Our numbers from 2010, 2011, 2012 was we were moving forward and have progressively been going down, beating the National averages. So we’re doing really good in our long-term projections. These little spikes that we speak of are just little blimps in the radar.”

Sunday and Monday police were kept busy responding to several calls of reported theft that occurred overnight. In the majority of cases these thefts occurred from motor vehicles that have been left unlocked with valuables inside. Theft of motor vehicles, break and enters, and bicycle theft also plagued police this week.

“It seems the suspects have gone green in their mode of transport, favoring the bicycle, many of which police believe to be stolen. It seems we need to once again remind all residents to secure vehicles, your outbuildings and your bicycles. It makes them hard to catch when they’re on bikes.”

Police believe the stolen bicycles are being used in a string of small thefts as transportation to and from crime sites.

“It seems as though this weekend we had a whole string of small thefts. No damage to the vehicles. It’s crimes of opportunity. Unlocked vehicles, money, small valuables inside, they open the door, grab what they want and leave. Go to the side of a house, pick up a bike, drive the bike to another part of town, leave the bike there, commit another small pocket of thefts then take another bike and drive it over to another part of town.”

Vernon RCMP is urging residents to report all theft crimes promptly.