The following are items of interest for the period of June 1-18, 2015:

Property Crime:

Thefts from vehicles continue to be a problem across our community. Over the past few weeks we have seen thefts from all corners of the community. Some people opt to leave their doors unlocked or windows down to prevent damage by thieves (this does not always work and is less productive when people still leave things in their unlocked vehicle). If you are one of these people and someone has broken into your car please contact us. Regardless of if you think something was stolen or not, we need to know when and where these events are happening so that we can adjust our resources appropriately.

We have recently had thefts in Glenayre, Klahanie, Guildford way, off Parkside Drive, off April Rd and around Kyle Street. Some are from unlocked vehicles; others are having windows smashed out. The best way to prevent and stop thefts from vehicles is to stop leaving items in cars. If a thief is being driven by addiction all the loose change from various cars adds up quickly to feed their habit.

On June 4 at around 9pm a resident on Clearview Drive was watching TV in bed when her dog started barking and ran into the kitchen. She followed and found the dog barking at a male trying to break into the house through the kitchen door. She yelled at the male causing him to flee. A police dog track was unable to locate the suspect. Fortunately no access was gained. The suspect was described as a thin Asian male, 5’5” wearing a black jacket, ball cap and jeans.

If you’ve brought your bicycle out of storage and are enjoying riding through our lovely community, take a minute to write down the serial number and take a current image of the bike. Thieves love bikes. Sadly, most of the time owners don’t know the serial number. With a serial number we can flag a bike as stolen on CPIC…which means if an officer comes across you bike and runs the serial number we can return it to you.

Fraud:

Fraud awareness and prevention can be difficult as the number of scams seem endless (and scammers relentless).  Scams can be seasonal (tax time, Christmas etc) so take some time to go over some of the current “trends” by consulting the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (www.antifraudcentre.ca). It will only take a minute or two to get familiar with the ways people are trying to help you part with your hard earned money.

Some of our recent frauds have been:

Callers posing as “publisher’s clearing house” saying you’ve won $10,000…all you have to do is send them a cheque for $5,000 to cover the taxes. Despite multiple, intimidating and annoying calls, our complainant recognized this as a scam and did not fall victim.

A victim of a theft from auto had his stolen debit card used at a local gas station. Even though debit cards are PIN protected, the suspects were able to exploit the enabled  “tap” feature on the card. For those of you unfamiliar with “tap” it basically allows purchases of up to $50 without needing a PIN. It doesn’t take much for $50 purchases to add up quickly…and drain money directly from your account (remember this is a debit card and tied directly to your money as opposed to a credit card).

An officer stopped a vehicle and observed a large amount of mail inside the car. The driver, a 41 year old male from Surrey, was arrested for breaching the conditions of his undertaking. Officers recovered roughly 50 pieces of mail stolen from the Heritage Mtn area (as well as credit cards and other items). As a result of the investigation Police are requesting charges for failing to comply with an undertaking, theft from mail, possession of stolen mail and possessing a copy of a key with intent to commit mail theft.

A resident had a cheque book stolen from their vehicle. False cheques have now begun to be deposited. The file is under investigation.

A resident was looking to get a loan for $10,000 and sought financing through an online cash lending company. The resident was required to send $800 for insurance on the loan. The money was sent but the loan has yet to materialize. Similar incidents appear online when one Google’s the company name. On that note, Google is a great tool to prevent yourself from being victimized. Google phone numbers, company names, emails etc of anyone soliciting money or telling you you’ve won a prize etc. Had this person Googled the company name before providing them with his banking info he would have seen many similar incidents noted on scamadviser.com.

Road Safety:

Every year we receive many complaints about traffic issues along the Barnet Highway (HOV violators, speeders etc).  The speeding issues seem to most come into play when the highway begins to re-enter the more residential areas. This coincides with the decrease in speed limit. Many people will often see our officers doing traffic enforcement in that area. We regularly find people travelling at what is deemed excessive speeds along that area (40km/h over the limit). Recently, a vehicle was impounded for travelling 124 km/h in that area. Not only is that double the limit for the 60km/h area but its well over the speed for the 80 km/h portions.

Only 1 person was found to be driving while under the influence of alcohol.

179 tickets were issued (throughout Glenayre during the sink-hole diversions, along the Barnet Hwy, Dewdney Trunk and other areas of town). As usual it is a combination of warning tickets and fines.

Miscellaneous:

Officers observed a group of young adults at a bus stop. One male was openly drinking. In dealing with the liquor offence, the officer located a collapsible baton and cocaine in the person’s possession. Items were seized and the liquor poured out.

Officers were conducting bar checks at a local establishment. In dealing with one group of individuals know to police, an officer conducted a safety search of one male’s man-purse. Inside the officer located a quantity of meth and heroin. All parties were ejected under the Bar-Watch program.