RCMP Challenge Lake City Residents

The Williams Lake RCMP is challenging the community to change the overall perception when it comes to their community.

Inspector Milo MacDonald, says during the past year, they have seen some dramatic improvements within the City’s overall crime picture.

“The agencies all work together really well in this town and that’s really paying off over the last year because we’re actually seeing our selves down almost 8% in calls for service and very significantly down in areas of high severity,” he says.

“Certainly there are still a lot of things happening, but we’re seeing more time between serious incidents and a smaller number of incidents of high levels of seriousness and we’re seeing some people who were formerly involved in the criminal lifestyles who are no longer involved in the criminal lifestyle.”

RCMP report that violent crime over the past three months is down by 18.86%.

MacDonald says if the trend continues, the City is well positioned to be out of the Stats Can list of communities with the highest Crime Severity Index.

RCMP say they need the community to help to continue on this path and ensure the final quarter remains just as promising.

They have released the following 10 tips:

• Report nuisance behavior within your neighborhood
• Get to know your neighbors and keep an eye on their home while away this Holiday season
• Do not share your vacation plans on social media, like Facebook or Instagram
• Park in well-lit areas and never leave your vehicle insecure and running
• Avoid using your vehicle as a storage locker, lock your packages and gifts in your vehicle’s trunk instead of in plain site
• Everyone is in a generous mood at the holidays, be aware of scams and fake charity solicitations in email and on social media sites
• Be diligent and check out the charities at www.give.org before donating;
• When shopping online make sure that you use only legitimate websites and watch out for URLs that use the names of well-known brands along with extra words
• Collect your mail promptly after delivery as unattended mail is a treasure for thieves.
• Consider volunteering for one of the many organizations that are actively making a difference in our community.