New police effort to go after criminals‘ ’toys‘

Ron Seymour Kelowna Courier:
Criminals in Kelowna will be at greater risk this fall of having their ill-gotten houses, cars, boats and other “toys” taken away from them. The RCMP will assign two officers to focus on seizing property and other assets acquired through the proceeds of crime, city council heard Tuesday. “Taking toys away from criminals – that‘s a good headline,” Mayor Sharon Shepherd said after council was briefed on the plans to step-up such seizures by RCMP Insp. Gary Stuart.
Kelowna will become the first city outside Vancouver to have police officers working full-time to seize the assets of criminals, Stuart said. “It‘s been very frustrating for me not being able to get out of the Lower Mainland as often as we could,” he said. Homes used as locations for marijuana grow-ops are among the most commonly seized assets in the Lower Mainland, he said. Even though those convicted of operating the grow-op don‘t typically own the home, it can still be seized if it‘s shown the owner was “willfully blind” to its illegal use.

Luxury items, such as boats and expensive jewelry, are also seized, although Stuart didn‘t have information on the total value of all assets taken away from criminals last year in B.C. A new policing approach is to seize the automobiles of people engaged in street racing, Stuart said. “Hopefully, this will further reduce the incentive for youth to be involved in street racing.” Meanwhile, Kelowna RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon said he plans this fall to release a list of local businesses with ties to organized crime. A similar move several years ago proved somewhat controversial, when it emerged the police had the wrong name for the owner of a Westside pub. McKinnon indicated Tuesday the new list would contain up-to-date information on the names of business owners connected to organized crime.

Meanwhile, council also heard a presentation from two students who are working with police that touched on the responsibility of merchants to report suspicious purchases. Red flags should be raised, Kevin Rakha said, if someone pays for an expensive item such as a car or boat with cash. Or if they make a special order, but someone else comes in to have their name attached to the registration documents. A growing problem for police, Rakha said, is that criminals are buying firms that distribute so-called white label ATMs, cash-dispensing machines that are not owned by a bank or other major financial institution. Currently, there are no requirements that ATM owners indicate where they got the money to stock the machines. So cash, typically earned through drug sales, can be put into the ATMs, in what amounts to a money-laundering operation.