West Shore RCMP has filled the void created by the disbandment of the former Regional Crime Unit by creating its own unit; the Crime Reduction Unit.
The C.R.U. is composed of officers specifically dedicated to targeting prolific offenders in the West Shore. Prolific offenders are those individuals currently criminally active with a high number of negative contacts with police due to criminal behaviour and with a history of committing the same type of crime over and over.
The C.R.U. is responsible for adopting enforcement and crime prevention strategies that are based on an understanding of the cause of crime. For this, the C.R.U. will be working in close partnership with key community partners such as Crime Analysts, Probation Officers, Correctional Services etc. in order to identify crime trends, hot spots and high crime areas in the West Shore area.
In a relentless fashion, the Crime Reduction Unit is aggressively targeting those individuals by conducting frequent curfew checks, surveillance, bar walks and make sure that those individuals who are released from custody abide by their court bound conditions.
It did not take long before the C.R.U. made its mark, with the assistance of the West Shore RCMP Street Crime Unit by arresting a 32 year old man and a 30 year old woman, both of Langford on September 2, 2015.
Both suspects are facing numerous charges, including Possession of Stolen Property, and Drug Possession after they were found in a stolen vehicle out of Duncan and stolen licence plates out of Shawnigan Lake. The man was held into custody for court appearance the next morning as he is a much known prolific offender. The woman was released and set to appear at the Western Communities Courthouse on December 3, 2015.
We routinely issue news releases requesting the public’s assistance in helping us solve crime because we know that there are people in the community who know who is responsible for those crimes,” states Sgt. Raj Sandhu, who oversees the West Shore RCMP Crime Reduction Unit and Street Crime Unit.
We need those individuals to come forward and help us target the small group of individuals who are responsible for the majority of the crimes in the West Shore.
Anyone with information can call West Shore RCMP at 250-474-2264 or anonymously via Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
