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(KIM ANDERSON / iNFOnews.ca)
September 04, 2025 - 5:00 PM
Kelowna has seen a huge spike in construction site break-ins and other crimes of opportunity this year so far, but other types of break-ins have gone down compared to last year.
The Kelowna RCMP released its report for the first half of 2025 and it showed that break and enters to construction sites and compounds have gone up by 55.6 per cent compared to last year.
“The most notable increases were observed in break and enter (other), bike theft, shoplifting, and mischief, suggesting a rise in opportunistic crimes in public and commercial spaces,” the report reads.
Compared to last year, theft from motor vehicles is down 5.6 per cent, break and enters into residences are down by 9.2 per cent and break-ins to businesses are down 4.8 per cent.
Bike theft saw the second highest increase with 38.7 per cent more bikes stolen so far in 2025 than the same period in 2024.
Shoplifting is up 12.3 per cent and mischief is up by 9.7 per cent.
Property crime overall is up 6.4 per cent and violent crime rates haven’t changed.
The areas with the most crime were Orchard Park, the downtown core and Rutland along Highway 33.
Kelowna city council is going to be presented with the statistics at its meeting next week.
Kelowna ranked 5th in terms of which Canadian Metropolitan Areas had the most severe crime in 2024, according to the data released by Statistics Canada earlier this summer.
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