City concession stands targeted by thieves

PENTICTON – Beach concessions took a beating this week in the Peach City.

Penticton’s Community policing Coordinator Rick Dellebuur reports a number of break and enters at the city’s various beach concessions during the past week.

Overnight on Wednesday, Aug. 19, the concession at Lakawanna Park was broken into and cash stolen from the till. The following night a break and enter at the Peach concession saw thieves make off with potato chips. On the night of Friday, Aug. 21 the Peach was hit again, this time a cash drawer was taken after the building’s door lock was broken.

Thieves also broke into Booster Juice the same evening, smashing a window to make off with a computer.

On Saturday night, August 22, the Tickleberry’s concession on Skaha Lake Beach was broken into. Thieves cut power to the building at approximately 3:15 a.m., and made off with a safe which was found a few blocks away, emptied of its contents. That same night the Sudbury Beach Concession was broken into and a cash drawer taken.

On Sunday night, August 23, police responded to a break in a the public washrooms and concession at Lions Park where the night watchman discovered both washrooms flooded. Nothing was missing from the concession.

Dellebuur reminds summer business operators of the importance of not leaving cash on the premises overnight, noting the summertime stands are not as secure as a normal building.

“There is a lot more opportunity for this type of theft at this time of year,” Dellebuur says, noting the seasonal nature of the business and the numbers of out of town residents that congregate around them, largely unnoticed.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.