Spoke Bike & Ski located on Victoria Street West in Kamloops has been the target of crime.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Facebook/ Spoke Bike & Ski

The owner of a specialty bike shop in downtown Kamloops is fed up with a lack of forward motion by the City of Kamloops to find solutions to the homelessness, crime and drug crisis.

Paul Berry of Spoke Bike & Ski had four attempted break-ins and three successful ones this winter with a total loss of $65,000 in damages, lost inventory and the cost of installing extra security measures.

“We feel unheard and disrespected by our city council. Small businesses are not being prioritized,” he said. “It has been very frustrating talking to people that really don’t understand how much of an issue it is.”

Small business owners in Kamloops are struggling to cope with ongoing criminal activity and in a previous interview with iNFOnews.ca several said there is fear, hopelessness and uncertainty in operating in the midst of social disorder. 

Berry wants the city to find a solution, even if it means doing something different than other cities are doing.

“People say it’s the same everywhere but that doesn’t mean Kamloops can’t be the first to come up with an idea that works,” he said. “Why are we scared to make a move that could help make our streets safer for everyone?”

He is often woken up at 3 a.m. when his business security system is tripped and sends an alert to his phone and he has to go investigate. He recently paid to have a four-foot-high steel panel installed behind his storefront windows.

“I have compassion for the homeless but when I see my window broken with intake papers to the New Life Mission across the street mixed into the glass, I lose my patience.”

The storefront window of Lavender Lingerie on Victoria Street in Kamloops is seen boarded up after a smash and grab in February.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

Getting insurance to cover the damages isn’t as easy as it sounds and the cost lands on the business owner.

“It costs us more in insurance coverage to make a claim, the claim has to be very large, a broken window and a stolen bike aren’t worth it. Every time you do make a claim with your insurer they want you to do extra things and your rates go up.”

Berry has written letters to the city asking questions but isn’t getting answers back.

“Small businesses are being forgotten. The city council makes it clear they prefer to serve the homeless population than look out for small businesses,” he said. “We’re creating spaces for them to be and allowing their habits and making it easier for them to get a hold of drugs.”

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Berry wants the city to consider establishing a treatment facility for repeat offenders who are addicted to drugs.

It isn’t the first time someone has made the suggestion.

In 2021, Kamloops city council defeated a notice of motion by Reid Hamer-Jackson and former councillor Dennis Walsh that would explore a drug addiction recovery centre in a rural area within Kamloops. In 2022, Hamer-Jackson was elected as mayor after running on a platform focused on public safety and homelessness. 

“There is a broad spectrum of homelessness,” Berry said. “It’s one thing if they’re not causing harm, it’s another for those with drug dependencies repeatedly committing crimes trying to get their next hit. You have to make these people get help, they’re not in a place to help themselves.”

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Every time a person has to be revived it puts a stress on the emergency system and costs taxpayers, he said.

“Why not put that money into a real treatment centre that can have a practical approach?"

Berry has operated the bike and ski shop on Victoria Street West for over three decades and has seen a big change in the neighbourhood over the past 15 years.

“I walk down the street and ask where people are from and they’re not from here,” he said. “We used to know the familiar handful of street people here and weren't afraid to walk past them. Shelters shouldn’t be in our centre core.”

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Berry got a letter back from the city stating the safety of residents, businesses and visitors are a priority but no detailed action plan was enclosed.

“They were voted in to come up with a solution for this problem, which was identified as the number one problem in our city. Where does the liability fall when these problems are being ignored? Who is responsible when something worse than theft happens? We’ve had enough of this disorder in our community and it needs to be addressed.”

RCMP said in a media release issued Feb. 26, that Kamloops had roughly 25 reports of business break and enters between Feb. 12 and Feb. 25. Twelve of those break-ins happened downtown and where smash and grabs.

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