Williams Lake RCMP’s acting officer in charge says that crime is rising in the Lake City.
Staff Sergeant Brad McKinnon said in Tuesday night’s City Council meeting that police have dealt with 4,360 files to date this year. A “slight increase” from this time last year.
McKinnon attributed the rise in calls to the fact that officers are handling fewer administrative duties and are able to have a stronger presence in the community.
“We continue to change the focus and structure of our support staff, so our police officers are on the street doing more police work,” said McKinnon. “We continue to adopt hotspots and ensure all officers and the groups we work with are focused on areas that are most likely to be impacted by crime, linking officers, investigative teams, and intelligence to targets and locations with the highest priority to be problematic.”
Out of the 4,360 files created to date, McKinnon said that over one thousand of them have been related to calls and complaints in Williams Lake’s downtown core.
The majority of the files are related to mischief and property crimes, with 83 created files, compared to 64 in 2025. Police have created 31 files in relation to Boitanio Park, compared to 29 this time last year. Police have been called to 51 cases of disturbance compared to 45 last year.
McKinnon highlighted that his team and other Watches on the Williams Lake RCMP are looking to create “targeted enforcement strategies” dedicated to what he called the “four key areas”, Boitanio Park and the downtown core being two of the priorities.
He also said that the increased police and patrol presence has led to police establishing better and more direct relationships with the organizations and shelters that are engaging with the unhoused and prolific offenders regularly. McKinnon said that police are working closely with Roots on First and will have officers working with the shelter’s staff and doing tours of the shelter to have a stronger presence and help find solutions for the most vulnerable people, and to “hold those to account who intend to exploit them.”
“The goal is to have a stronger presence, reduce impaired drug and alcohol-related driving offenses, and keep our streets safer. That will be our roadmap for how we navigate and police Williams Lake through the summer months.”
There will be more police bodies coming in the summer months, according to McKinnon. The RCMP is sending more officers, including a six-person Uniform Gang Enforcement Team, around the time of the Williams Lake Stampede, with more officers coming through during the rest of the summer.
McKinnon also said that in terms of staffing the Williams Lake detachment, it “remains stable”, and a new Officer in Charge is expected to come in June. McKinnon says the new Officer in Charge comes from Alexis Creek and has several years of frontline policing experience, as well as an “extensive background” in First Nation police services.
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