Kelowna’s top cop says a “positive dent” being made in crime reduction

KELOWNA – Drunks, druggies and dummies will be the focus on Monday of a report by Kelowna RCMP Supt. Brent Mundle to city council.

The top Mountie will tell councillors of the commercial theft program launched last summer has led to 206 charges to date while the latest downtown drug sweep has netted them 102 drug charges.

December’s impaired driving and prohibited driver crackdown led to 30 alcohol related sanctions, Mundle writes in his quarterly report to council, as well as 79 violation tickets.

Mundle's report isn’t all about numbers though and he will tell council of the detachment’s work with many proactive crime prevention programs including Block Watch and the Don’t Be An Easy Target campaign.

The superintendent will mark the anniversary of the Police and Crisis Team, which he says intervened in about 20 per cent of mental health calls in the last quarter.

Kelowna RCMP also helped get the Cornerstone emergency shelter up and running this fall while also working with city bylaw officers to implement the Good Neighbour bylaw.

While crime numbers are mixed, Mundle thinks they show progress.

“While property offenses increased in the fourth quarter of the previous year, the yearly comparison of all criminal code offenses demonstrates reduction in property offences, a five per cent reduction in other criminal codes offenses and a third consecutive year of reductions in person offenses,” Mundle writes. “Considering Kelowna’s fast-growing population, these figures show a positive dent being made in crime reduction.”

Mundle cites the 2017 Kelowna citizens survey showing 90 per cent of residents feel the city is very or somewhat safe, although that perception has declined from 2015 when 94 per cent of respondents said the felt that way.

Councillors will hear from Supt. Mundle at the regular council meeting beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 19 in Kelowna city hall.

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