New Crime Stoppers Car

At last the Crime Stoppers of the South Okanagan-Similkameen has a car to call its own.

The keys to a 2006 Hyundai Elantra were presented to Ken Johnston, President of the South Okanagan-Similkameen branch of Crime Stoppers at a presentation in Penticton on Monday morning.

“We need to get our name out to the public more and more all the time, especially to young people and this car will help get more high profile advertising out there,” says Johnston.

Sponsored by Capri Insurance, the City of Penticton and Hyundai, the car will be used primarily as an advertising tool, says Johnston.

Police coordinator for Crime Stoppers Al Sismey says the car will be a big benefit to Penticton.

“It will give Crime Stoppers greater exposure in the community, which will help bring in more information from citizens, which will result in more bad people going to jail,” says Sismey.

Mayor Jake Kimberley was present at the introduction of the car and says Crime Stoppers is a central part of life in the city.

“Crime Stoppers is a huge benefit to the community, the more we can give to them the more we can prevent crime because it is the public who has to observe these things,” says Kimberley.

Since its beginning in 1992, the South Okanagan-Similkameen Crime Stoppers has resulted in nearly 550 arrests and the removal of nearly $6.5 million worth of drugs from the streets. It is an anonymous way to report crimes and pays cash rewards for information that leads to arrests.

For more information, or to report a crime, visit the website at www.vip.net/crimestoppers.