Fear of crime may be reaching record highs in Vernon but the city’s crime reduction strategy appears to have sent the property 
crime rate spiraling downward.The Vernon RCMP released crime statistics on Wednesday, comparing property offences from May to October 2006 with the same time period in 2005, the most crime-filled six months of the year. The numbers show that commercial break and enters are down 18 per cent, residential break and enters are down 42 per cent and other break and enters have plunged 31 per cent.“I think we’ve had a crime reduction since we started implementing the crime reduction strategy around about the New Year,” said Cpl. Henry Proce of the Vernon RCMP. “We have three guys that are solely dedicated to getting repeat offenders.”
Officers receive weekly
updates including photos so they can more readily identify people who are wanted on outstanding warrants. Proce said that public tips through Crimestoppers have also contributed to lowering crime rates.Proce said the recent string of bank robberies and purse snatchings have stopped because of their focus on repeat offenders. He said the police had two main suspects in the purse snatchings. One was jailed on unrelated charges while the other moved away; no purse snatchings have occurred since.With the recent fears about the safety of Cenotaph Park and purse snatchers preying on innocent seniors, Proce said the crime figures show that things aren’t as bad as they are sometimes portrayed.“We’re as safe as any other similar-sized community in the province,” he said. “These latest statistics again illustrate the disconnect between actual crime and the fear or crime.”Too often, Proce said people assume a homeless problem leads to a serious crime problem. He said the issues surrounding Cenotaph Park have been “misinterpreted.”“We certainly do have a homeless problem in Vernon but that’s not just a police problem it’s a social problem,” he said.Auto crime has also taken a hit this year with car thefts dropping 13 per cent and thefts from vehicles down 10 per cent. However, there has been little change in the number of robberies in Vernon as the figure has gone down only two per cent.
crime rate spiraling downward.The Vernon RCMP released crime statistics on Wednesday, comparing property offences from May to October 2006 with the same time period in 2005, the most crime-filled six months of the year. The numbers show that commercial break and enters are down 18 per cent, residential break and enters are down 42 per cent and other break and enters have plunged 31 per cent.“I think we’ve had a crime reduction since we started implementing the crime reduction strategy around about the New Year,” said Cpl. Henry Proce of the Vernon RCMP. “We have three guys that are solely dedicated to getting repeat offenders.”
Officers receive weekly
updates including photos so they can more readily identify people who are wanted on outstanding warrants. Proce said that public tips through Crimestoppers have also contributed to lowering crime rates.Proce said the recent string of bank robberies and purse snatchings have stopped because of their focus on repeat offenders. He said the police had two main suspects in the purse snatchings. One was jailed on unrelated charges while the other moved away; no purse snatchings have occurred since.With the recent fears about the safety of Cenotaph Park and purse snatchers preying on innocent seniors, Proce said the crime figures show that things aren’t as bad as they are sometimes portrayed.“We’re as safe as any other similar-sized community in the province,” he said. “These latest statistics again illustrate the disconnect between actual crime and the fear or crime.”Too often, Proce said people assume a homeless problem leads to a serious crime problem. He said the issues surrounding Cenotaph Park have been “misinterpreted.”“We certainly do have a homeless problem in Vernon but that’s not just a police problem it’s a social problem,” he said.Auto crime has also taken a hit this year with car thefts dropping 13 per cent and thefts from vehicles down 10 per cent. However, there has been little change in the number of robberies in Vernon as the figure has gone down only two per cent.
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