Oceanside Community Safety Volunteers

1) June 14, a theft was reported from a shed on Rheumer Crescent in Parksville. Once the suspect entered the shed they stole a dark blue Marin men’s mountain bike.

I am blessed with a steady stream of questions that arrive from visitors to the DriveSmartBC web site. Whenever I am short on ideas to base my weekly article on I can count on someone to make a suggestion. This week the operative word is short, and I'm going to deal with questions that haven't developed into a full article but deserve a response.

The OCSV performed two deployments in May, 2017 dedicated to the Cell Watch program exclusively. Of 1150 drivers observed, 4 were talking on the phone and 7 were performing other distracting actions.

Ten Speed Watch and Cell Watch deployments were made by the OCSV during the month of May, 2017. Of 6413 vehicle checked, 433 or 7% were traveling at more than 10 km/h over the posted speed limit with the highest deviation being 87 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. 30 drivers were observed talking on or texting with hand held cellular phones.

Oceanside Community Safety Volunteer as the RCMP Safety Bear at the annual Tim Hortons Camp Day. Oceanside RCMP has been a partner with the Parksville Tim Horton's with the jail fundraiser to help Camp Day.

Oceanside Community Safety Volunteers partnered with Central Island Traffic, Oceanside RCMP, and the Child Passenger Safety Association of Canada (CPSAC) to assist beach-goers from all over the island with safely transporting their children to and from Rathtrevor last weekend.

The crew were able to assist 71 children under 9 - assuring some parents that they were already transporting their children in a safe and legal manner and assisting 59 other to get their children riding more safely. The team also spoke with 5 children 9 and over about seat belt safety.

In the one week period from May 18 to 25, 2017 there were more than 20 thefts from vehicles in the Oceanside area. There is obviously a criminal with an affinity for theft from auto in our community. The thefts were predominately from unlocked vehicles and in fact, it is very rare that windows are smashed to gain entry. Most of these thefts would have been avoided by the owners simply locking their vehicle doors.

1) File 17-4121 May 19, theft from motor vehicles reported from Crocus Corner in the Morningstar Subdivision. The suspect was seen fleeing from the vehicle at 03:00 a.m. Nothing of significance stolen from the vehicle as it appears the suspect was spooked.

OCSV's Mike Garland speaks with The Beach FM's Dave Graham discussing upcoming events.