By Dylana Milobar

City reassuring public after recent crimes in Kamloops

Feb 16, 2019 | 8:06 AM

KAMLOOPS — After a series of high profile, violent incidents since the beginning of this year, civic officials are reiterating that Kamloops is still safe for the general population.

It’s been nearly one month since two homicides took place at local motels — both were believed by RCMP to be linked to organized crime.

February 14th saw a high profile armed robbery and kidnapping in the city, which eventually ended in Falkland, along with a separate stabbing incident Rayleigh, with one man taken to hospital.

Last night (Feb. 15), Kamloops RCMP responded to a shots fired call in the 1900 block of Tranquille Road, where a man and a woman had been shot in what police now believe to be a targeted attack.

Kamloops Councillor and Acting Deputy Mayor, Mike O’Reilly says council is briefed regularly by RCMP and Superintendent Syd Lecky on the situations occuring throughout the city. 

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“We are letting the RCMP do their job at the moment, and it’s not a time for questions and answers,” He explains, “It’s a time to let them do what they are good at, and that is keeping Kamloops safe.”

O’Reilly says despite some recent violent incidents, public safety is not at risk, but residents do need to be vigilant about reporting suspicious activity to RCMP. 

“Public safety is the number one thing that the City of Kamloops and council does,” He explains, “It’s almost 17 per cent of our budget. Almost 25 million dollars goes to the RCMP every year. What we do know as fact is this is the first year in over 5 years that the RCMP have been fully staffed. Due specifically from shortages of RCMP coming in from depot.”

So far there have been no other requests for more officers, according to O’Reilly, however he’s not ruling out that the conversation could happen.

“Quite frankly, we defer to the experts, which are the RCMP in Kamloops and specifically Syd Lecky, and there has not been that request to council. But that’s not to say that things won’t change. As with anything, all situations, regardless of where you are in life, are dynamic, and safety and crime are no different. Things need to be adapted accordingly.”

O’Reilly reiterates that for the average Kamloops resident, the crimes since the beginning of the year may naturally cause some concern, but the public is not at risk.

“Overall, Kamloops is a very safe place. If you are involved in drugs it is not,” He stresses, “If you do drugs, that’s not safe. If you’re involved in the drug trade, that is not safe.”