FILE PHOTO - Penticton RCMP Supt. Brian Hunter is seen in this undated file photo.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

Crime in Penticton rose by 5% over the third quarter of 2021 compared to 2020.

However, crime rates were even worse during the same period of 2019, the most recent comparison from before the pandemic.

In a presentation to city council yesterday, Nov. 16, Penticton RCMP Supt. Brian Hunter reported 2,149 criminal code files between July and September of this year. During the same period in 2020 there were 2,054 files, which dropped by 15% compared to 2019, the most recent quarter before the COVID pandemic, when there were 2,405 files.

The RCMP report attributed much of the 5% overall increase in crime to mischief and shoplifting, which are up 34% and 36% respectively. The number of mischief reports 2021 rose to 525 from 384 in 2020, which was similar to the 389 reports in 2019. Reports of shoplifting decreased by nearly one-quarter from 2019 to 2020, before rising by 36% this year. The number of reports went from 93 in 2019 to 72 in 2020 to 102 in 2021.

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Supt. Hunter said that food was the most frequently stolen item and accounted for 39% of all theft, and the most incidents of theft occurred at Safeway. Most of the people caught shoplifting are repeat offenders, he added.

"You talk to any retailer in the community and I can tell you in this community in total you’re talking hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said.

Larger businesses in Penticton are single-handedly losing upwards of six-figures worth of goods each year to theft, he said.

“It’s not good," he said.

The most targeted addresses were retail stores, comprising 26% of all break and enters, followed by apartment and condos at 24%.

Break and enters rose by about one-third for businesses and properties categorized as “other,” while break and enters at residences saw a 23% decrease.

Supt. Hunter said the most common way to break into a building was by breaking glass doors, followed by prying open doors or windows.

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There were 5,157 calls for service last quarter which is 3% greater than the 5,015 calls in 2020.

Theft from vehicles have seen a downward trend – after 2019 when there were 369 reports, there was a 38% decrease in 2020 at 234, and this year saw a further decline of 29% with just 166 reports.

Bicycle thefts are also trending down. There were 87 reports in quarter three of 2019, then 68 in 2020 and 65 in 2021.

Image Credit: City of Penticton

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