Vernon North Okanagan RCMP operations manager Blake MacLeod provided their quarterly policing report (Sept. to Dec. 2023) to council on Monday, April 8.
Among the stats provided were:
- Property offences increased by 13.8 per cent in the Vernon community, in comparison to the same quarter of 2022.
- The B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit advised of six reports of possession of child pornography in the Vernon/Coldstream area.
- 14 prolific offenders identified in the Vernon North Okanagan area. A prolific offender is as an adult or youth offender with an established pattern of persistent Criminal Code and/or Controlled Drugs and Substances Act offences. Of the 14, seven are currently in custody. Of the seven not in custody, three frequent the Vernon area, one resides in Enderby and three have relocated outside of the jurisdiction.
- 59 drivers were taken off the road by way of suspension or charge in Vernon, 26 in the North Okanagan rural area.
- Total files for offences are down from last year in most areas of the North Okanagan.
Councillor Kelly Fehr asked MacLeod for a reminder on the limits and penalties for drinking and driving.
“There’s different levels, criminal code, which is federal statute is .08,” said MacLeod. “The Motor Vehicle Act affords us a few different sections to act, like the Immediate Roadside Prohibition, which is refusing the roadside screening device, or refusing a breath sample.
“For most breathe samples, a fail is over .08 . There is a lesser threshold. Anything over .05 is a lesser suspension. There is a 24-hour suspension which can be for reasonable suspicion, it doesn’t have to be for a blow, just observation from the officers.”
After recent reports of bus shelters being damaged, Coun. Kari Gares asked MacLeod if they were monitoring these shelters. MacLeod responded that the chief will bring “information related to how many have been damaged at a future council meeting.”
Additionally, MacLeod told council that charges for the perpetrator of the downtown fire on July 4, 2023 that destroyed seven businesses has proven to be challenging.
“That investigation is with crown council, and we are doing our best to get to charges but I am not sure we will get there to be honest,” MacLeod said. “It is challenging. Sometimes we don’t have everything (we need) to get to a charge.”
READ MORE: UPDATE: Vernon’s Kal Tire Place major upgrades approved