Dear Anarchist & Sidley Residents,
Today (Saturday) we had a meeting of residents to discuss recent thefts, and attempted thefts on the mountain. In the past week 3 incidents have occurred. RCMP have been notified, and have attended at some residents homes to investigate these crimes. At today’s meeting about 45 residents came together to discuss what our community can do to protect our homes and property.
The Community Society is re-engaging our Community Watch program. Kevin Burk, one of our Directors is leading these efforts for the Society. Kevin is a retired RCMP officer, and is our liaison with local law enforcement. One of the requests that some people brought up was to ask if any residents are willing to participate in some “watches” or patrols of our area. Several residents are interested and if you are willing to volunteer some time please let me know at 250-495-4592 or mckenney@vip.net , or Kevin at 250-485-7821 or email jrburk@hotmail.com. Kevin and volunteers will meet to form plans.
Here are some things that we discussed:
- Always let your neighbours when you are away from home for any extended period
- Keep an eye open for any unrecognized vehicles parked or driving in your area. Record any license numbers, make of vehicle, take a photo, and if you speak to the person try to recall their appearance. If a theft occurs soon after such a siting that person may have been involved, and this could be useful information for police. (p.s. We already have two reports of vehicles today, with plate #’s and descriptions – well done !)
- Consider your security situation. Should you consider motion detectors, game/motion cameras, sensors for your driveway, home security systems? Alarms that detect intrusions that turn on outside lights on, trigger noise alarms, or flash a warning beacon can be effective. Alarmed systems to a security service are also available – but police response times are variable on the mountain. Residents are organizing a meeting with Action Security Ltd. to discuss what equipment options are available. We will advise you of when that meeting will happen.
- GPS locating devices are available. These can be installed on recreational machines (motorcycles, ATV, snowmobiles) to detect when they are moved, and to locate them if stolen.
- If an intruder comes onto you property, be smart. Our advice is NOT to confront these people. They are for the most part petty criminals – they are only after your stuff. Confrontations could be dangerous to you and your family – CALL THE POLICE. (911 and request police response).
- The Community Society will discuss putting up more signage, possible putting up some surveillance cameras, other Community Watch activities (patrols), and we send an article to the local newspaper to make it clear that we are all watching for unusual vehicles / persons. We want the criminals to know we are watching for them and they will be caught.
- It’s up to you and all of us to be diligent and to report any unusual observations. Please call Mark, Kevin or the Police if you see anything that may be a potential criminal activity.
Mark McKenney, President, Anarchist Mountain Community Society
324 Grizzly Place, Osoyoos, BC , Canada V0H 1V6
(250)495-4592