RCMP Community Connection for the week of October 9-15

Mission

2023-10-22 11:45 PDT

Welcome to the Mission RCMP Community Connection for the week of October 9-15, 2023

Here’s a snapshot of some of the work we did last week:

Calls for service last week: 283
Proactive patrols of identified hot spots: 20
Curfew checks completed: 2

Calls of interest:

Photo of knife seized by police

Click here for large photo of knife seized by police

On the morning of October 9, the manager of a large retail store in downtown Mission reported that he had just been threatened by a male well-known to the store for being a prolific shoplifter. When the manager saw the male in the store, he immediately directed him to leave, at which point the male threatened that he had a knife and would use it. An officer located the offender in the area a short time later and arrested him for uttering threats, as well as for two outstanding warrants. The 34-year-old male was also found to be in possession of a knife. He was held for court.

On the evening of October 10, a man smashed the window of a vehicle in a parking lot along Lougheed Highway near Haig Street. Some eyeglasses and a pair of Apple Airpods were stolen, and the offender left behind a drug pipe and some tinfoil. CCTV footage helped to identify the offender, then the vehicle owner was able to use the Find My app to track the last known location of the Airpods. Officers found a male sleeping outside on Logan Avenue in the last known location of the Airpods, and confirmed he matched the description of the male seen on the CCTV footage. The male was arrested and police recovered some, but not all, of the stolen items. This was the same male previously arrested for trying to break into a mailbox along 1st Avenue, as was reported a few weeks earlier in the Community Connection. He was again held for court.

On the evening of October 11, officers were assisting the occupants of two vehicles involved in a head-on crash on Stave Lake Road, on the windy stretch down to the Hatzic Valley, when another vehicle drove up to the road closure. An officer went to tell the driver of that vehicle that he would have to wait until the road was clear, however the officer immediately noticed an open bottle of liquor on the passenger-side floorboards, and smelled liquor on the driver’s breath. The driver provided two breath samples resulting in Warn readings, and was issued a 3-day driving prohibition and vehicle impound. The persons involved in the collision suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and fortunately no one was injured by the impaired driver.

Early in the morning on October 15, suspects smashed the glass door of a business at 32555 London Avenue, stole numerous items and fled out the rear door. A police dog attended and tracked the suspects from the store, across the train tracks, across Lougheed Highway, and finally to a location on Logan Avenue, where two men matching the description of the suspects were quickly arrested. Some of the stolen property was also recovered along the route taken by the suspects.

Around 9pm on October 10, an officer on patrol observed a vehicle committing a traffic infraction near Ferndale Avenue and Dewdney Trunk Road. The officer pulled the vehicle over, and found that the driver was not only prohibited from driving, but had previously been convicted of being in possession of a stolen vehicle, and, as part of his sentence, he had received an order not to be in the driver’s seat of any motor vehicle. The man, who has been convicted 24 times in the past for offences related to property crime, violence and failing to comply with court orders, was arrested again and held for court. His friend – whom had lent him the truck, and is also well-known to police – arrived on scene just in time to find out that his truck was being impounded for 7 days. Just remember – as the registered owner, you’re responsible for your vehicle when you loan it out to your friend…so make sure they’re responsible (and have a valid license!), or you could be stuck paying for their mistakes in the end!