Ways to make residential and commercial property safer will be the topic of a meeting hosted by the Alexis Creek RCMP in Tatla Lake Wednesday following recent break and enters in the community.
“We had three break and enters all in one evening in Tatla Lake done by the same people and members of the community want to know what the police are doing about it,” Alexis Creek Sgt. Don Racette told the Tribune Tuesday.
During the community meeting, which begins at 1 p.m., Racette will share documents for owners to complete a residential or commercial security self-assessment, he said.
The assessments encourage property owners to look at things such as signage, putting in good lighting to deter would-be-thieves, noting how valuables are secured, even the importance of regularly changing computer passwords.
“They may already be practicing these things, but if they are not it will be good information,” Racette said. “Times have changed and criminals are getting better and better at victimizing people.”
He hopes the meeting will result in people understanding how to protect themselves and perhaps even consider establishing a rural crime watch in the area.
Racette said a business, residence and the school were targeted during the break and enters at Tatla Lake.
A vehicle was stolen from Interior Roads, but it was recovered a few days later, Racette said, noting the suspects also stole some tools.
“The residence owner does not want to pursue charges, which is unfortunate,” Racette said. “It is going to be discouraging for the people out in Tatla Lake because if you are a victim of a crime and you don’t want to pursue charges then why are the police being called?”
A couple of days later a truck was stolen in the Alexis Creek area by Kinikinik and some vehicles there were rummaged through.
“The suspects were not the ones involved in the Tatla Lake break and enters,” Racette said. “They were not from the Chilcotin.”
So far one person has been charged with possession of stolen property and there may be more charges because there was more than one person involved, he added.
A third group of people that had committed a break and enter while intoxicated were later involved in a collision west of Alexis Creek on Sept. 16, Racette confirmed.
“All three of these incidents were unrelated and involved different people,” he said.
“The Tatla Lake residents are concerned it’s one certain group but that isn’t the case.”