Report shows ‘uptick’ in downtown crime

Crime in Kelowna is mostly down except when it’s up.

That’s what Kelowna city councillors heard during the “year in review” report from Insp. Beth McAndie, the acting officer in charge of the Kelowna RCMP detachment.

McAndie told councillors that overall calls for service were down six per cent in 2022 as compared to the previous year although the downtown core saw a 12.6 per cent increase, something McAndie described as an “uptick” in her report.

Also bucking the downward trend was a 43.3 per cent increase in robberies which are described in the report as “violence and threats of violence with property crime.” In real terms, that means 33 more robberies than in 2021.

While likely of little comfort to the victims, McAndie noted that robberies were up across the province and that new reporting criteria meant they were likely under-reported in years past.

Kelowna RCMP responded to violent thefts with a media strategy and a targeted enforcement approach, McAndie said, which meant going after repeat offenders and monitoring locations where repeat violations had occurred.

Special emphasis on the holiday season in December, which is when commercial robberies tend to spike, saw offences drop from 22 in 2021 to 14 in 2022, McAndie said.

Break and enters against businesses were up 26 per cent in 2022, although McAndie again pointed to targeted enforcement against repeat offenders as the reason for a significant drop in the last half of 2022.

While not emphasized in the report, arson was up 27 per cent in 2022, from 115 reported incidents in 2021 to 146 last year.

While perhaps not as statistically significant, other crime categories also saw double digit increases, including shoplifting (17.1 per cent) and bike theft (17.7 per cent).

Also on the rise were auto theft (8.3 per cent) fraud (8.2 per cent) assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon (7.1 per cent) and sex offences (5.6 per cent).

While cold comfort to those who were assaulted or had their bike stolen, a number of categories saw decreases in reported incidents as compared to 2021.

Domestic violence was down 24.5 per ent, mischief calls were down 18 per cent and residential break and enters dropped 17.2 percent.

In a separate line item, the RCMP reported 483 property offenses by 28 “prolific offenders on release” although the offences are not broken down by category.

One disturbing statistic came from the Kelowna RCMP Integrated Child Exploitation Unit which was formed in 2019; while processing and accessing child sexual abuse material is up 21 per cent across Canada, that same offence is up 67 per cent in Kelowna, jumping from 42 reported incidents in 2021 to 70 in 2022.