Kelowna city council close to unveiling three crime-fighting initiatives
Global News
After Kelowna RCMP Insp. Beth McAndie presented the 2022 crime report at city hall, mayor Tom Dyas said council is very close to unveiling three crime-fighting initiatives.
Kelowna mayor Tom Dyas says he ran on a promise to reduce crime and he plans to fulfill it.
“Crime was a major election issue, you know, where Kelowna sat as number one statistically with regards to crime,” Dyas told Global News.
The mayor made the comment Monday afternoon just ahead of hearing the RCMP present the 2022 crime report to city council.
Dyas said council is very close to unveiling three crime-fighting initiatives that are “all actionable items that will make a difference.”
While Dyas wasn’t ready to share what those three initiatives are, he said they will be made public sometime next month.
“The only reason why that is … is because tomorrow we have another meeting and we’re going to confirm that those are still our top three priorities that we’re going to address,” Dyas said. “So I want to make certain that all of council, everyone is in agreement that those are our priorities and then by all means that will become a public document.”
The 2022 crime report was presented to council by Kelowna RCMP Insp. Beth McAndie. She noted that general crime returned to pre-pandemic levels last year.
Overall calls for service were down six per cent, however, Kelowna’s downtown area experienced a 12.6 per cent uptick in calls for service.