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No spike in crime during Summerland power outages, say RCMP

Concerns of possible increase in crime had been raised prior to six-hour outages
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(Black Press file photo)

Two recent scheduled power outages in Summerland did not result in an increase in crime, said police.

Each of the two Friday night outages, overnight on Oct. 15 to 16 and overnight on Oct. 22 to 23, lasted for six hours and were done by FortisBC to upgrade Summerland’s electrical power.

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Prior to the outages, concerns were raised by some in the community about a possible increase in crime on the two nights.

Concerns about a possible spike in crime had some Summerland residents patrolling the community in their own vehicles during the outages.

However, Graham Statt, chief administrative officer for Summerland, said the municipality and the Summerland RCMP detachment did not receive abnormal call volumes during the outages.

Of the calls received by the municipality, the majority were from people asking why the power was out, he said. Prior to the outages, news media carried stories about the upcoming outages. The municipality of Summerland also had sandwich board signs in the downtown area, carrying details of the outages.

Sgt. Dave Preston of the Summerland RCMP, also said the outages did not result in increased crime activity.

“We did not experience an increase in files of concern,” Preston said.

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John Arendt

About the Author: John Arendt

John Arendt has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. He has a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.
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