Oceanside Community Safety

1) 2016-4284 On May 19th, a break, enter and theft was reported to have occurred at a business in the 800 block of Island Highway West in Parksville. The complainant advised that upon arrival at work he discovered the front doors to the lobby of the arena ajar and the ATM machine in the lobby had been drilled open. The culprits covered two of the security cameras with tape to avoid detection.

I’ve always understood penalty points to be a kind of score keeping method to assign a level of risk to the breach of a traffic rule. The more dangerous the violation, the more penalty points that would be assigned to a driving conviction. Rack up too many points in a set period of time and you would have to pay ICBC premiums and risk a driving prohibition from RoadSafetyBC. Regardless of the fact that penalty points have been a part of driving in BC for many years, they are generally poorly understood.

1) 2016-4146 On May 15th, a theft from vehicle was reported to have occurred in the 200 block of Moilliet Street S in Parksville. The complainant advised that during the early morning hours culprits entered her unlocked vehicle and stole some loose change from the centre console.

1) 2016-3888 On May 8th, a theft from several vehicles was reported to have occurred in the 200 block of Moilliet Street in Parksville. The complainant advised that culprits entered her unlocked vehicle and although things appeared to have been rifled through, nothing appeared missing. Several other vehicles in the immediate area also appeared to have been rummaged through. The registered owners were contacted and other than a pill bottle being stolen from one vehicle, nothing was missing.

1) 2016-3694 On May 3rd, a mischief to property was reported to have occurred in the 700 block of Englishman River road in Errington. The complainant advised that at approximately 12:30 am, they were awoken by a vehicle ramming their front gate in a vehicle. The vehicle eventually was able to ram through the gate but fled when the complainant and her family confronted the vehicle in the driveway. The vehicle is described as a dark blue or black Hyundai Santa Fe or Tucson, with a BC license 031-WMS. The police later confirmed that the aforementioned license was reported stolen out of Ladysmith. This vehicle is suspected to be associated to numerous break and enters in the Errington area recently.

Our smartphones have become constant companions that can do so much for us. They are complicated devices that can also work against us if we don't understand how to protect ourselves from predators who would like to reach in and either steal personal information or use these devices for criminal purposes remotely. We must learn to protect ourselves effectively as we learn to use these devices.

Back in 2004 I put tongue in cheek and wrote about the trailer tug test. You hook the trailer up, drive off and look in the rear view mirror, if it’s still following you, carry on! I found myself behind a couple of vehicles pulling trailers yesterday and wondered if their drivers had missed the fact that I was being facetious. Neither trailer had any functioning lights and I can only guess what else might have been overlooked.

1) 2016-3560 On April 29th, a break, enter and theft to a shed was reported to have occurred in the 1300 block of Winchester Road in Qualicum Beach. The complainant advised that the break in occurred during the daytime while he was at work. The culprits entered his property and forced the lock on his detached shed.

One evening while patrolling in an unmarked police car I approached a cross street that was controlled by stop signs. I could see a car approaching from my right going fast enough that I was concerned that the driver did not intend to stop. I shadowed my brake pedal and when the other vehicle was at a 45 degree angle making a right turn I stomped and stopped. So did he.

1) 2016-3492 On April 28th, a theft from vehicle was reported to have occurred in the 300 block of Hirst Avenue in Parksville. The complainant advised that she looked out the apartment window to see the headlights and dome lights on her husband’s vehicle on. The complainant’s husband ran outside to observe two tall males with hoodies on, walking westbound. The males refused to stop when directed.