Police see positive downturn in Kelowna youth crime stats

Kelowna Mounties are seeing a positive trend in youth crime statistics, despite recent reports of aggressive behaviour.

“Our data, as of the beginning of March, says that the youth incidents involving violence have decreased,” Cpl. Michael Gauthier said Wednesday.

“We also understand that it would take one incident shared publicly or social media that may affect those results negatively. So we do, we do monitor these statistics and the crime in our community, and we will adjust our resources as necessary.”

The update comes on the heels of several reports of roving groups of teens in the Kettle Valley area of Kelowna aggressively banging on doors and windows of homes.

One person who was targeted described the repeated hits to their peace of mind as “terrorizing” and well beyond the “ding-dong-dash” pranks that teens once committed.

Their name was withheld due to concerns that would promote further incidents, though their claims were corroborated by neighbours and video evidence.

Gauthier said that they are still investigating multiple reports of this kind of activity, and didn’t indicate that crimes of a more serious nature had followed.

No similar attacks have been reported since last weekend.

That said, Gauthier encouraged vigilance.

“If people are in the area and they see youth at night scooting around or walking around aimlessly, not doing anything, and it's suspicious, phone us and we can go and investigate,” he said.

He said that the cases in Kettle Valley are unique and not indicative of a larger trend of menacing behaviour and they’re still looking for a root cause.

“Ultimately, we need to do our job, and our job is policing youth crime in conjunction with the youth Criminal Justice Act,” he said.

“With that, we have to decide, when there is a crime that involves a youth, what is the most appropriate means of dealing with that.”

The community, however, can help.

“What we need from our parents is that they understand or have an idea of where their kid is going, what they're doing and who they're with,” he said.

“We want kids to be kids to go out and have fun and do what they do. However, there needs to be accountability, and so if you know that your child is hanging out with someone who is of questionable character. It's time to have those tough conversations with your with your child, so they understand the repercussions of their decisions.”

Police have youth officers and in the wake of complaints, they implemented additional shifts throughout Fridays and Saturday evenings and additional resources to target known areas where youth like to hang out during peak times.

That includes the downtown parks and the Queensway bus loop.

Gauthier also said those who are concerned about safety should call police first.