Terrace RCMP are reminding the public to call them about suspicious and criminal incidents and not to think they shouldn't call because they're bothering police after three recent incidents were posted on social media but not reported.
Information must flow two ways between the public and the police; the better the flow of information, the better job police can do to keep our community safe.
The police part in this relationship is educating and informing the public. The public’s part is providing their police with information on crime and suspicious activity.
Contrary to popular belief, social media is not monitored by the police. Another comment I often hear from the public is they did not want to bother the police with a suspicious activity call. These calls do not bother us. True success in police work is preventing crime from happening in the first place,
says Const. Angela Rabut, Community Policing/Media Relations Terrace RCMP.
Three recent incidents prompted the Terrace RCMP to remind the public that police are only as effective as the information provided to them from the public.
The first incident involved the public reporting and talking about crime on Facebook, completely leaving the police out of the loop. In this case, an off duty police officer happened to see a posting on Facebook reporting a group of people going through vehicles in an area of town. The off duty member reported it to the working members who made their way over to the suspect area and located the group, effectively putting a stop to this behavior.
The second incident involved a stolen bike. The person reported their bike as stolen on a Facebook platform. If this person would’ve reported it to police, they would have discovered that the bike had been found and was sitting at the detachment waiting to be claimed. The bike was returned to its owner eventually once police acquired this information through the grape vine.
The third incident was not reporting a suspicious vehicle in a neighborhood. Shortly after this non reported incident occurred, another person in another neighborhood took the step to report a suspicious vehicle in their neighborhood. An investigation was conducted, pictures were obtained, and a third similar circumstance with the same vehicle was discovered. With the public’s assistance, the registered owner of the vehicle was quickly identified.
Sir Robert Peal declared this principle of policing in 1829: "The police are the public, and the public are the police." The same holds true today. In essence, the police are only members of the public that are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent upon everyone citizen in the interest of community welfare and existence. Police serve and protect the community. If you report, we investigate; if you don’t report, we might not even hear about it. Communication is key to your community being a safe place to live in.
If you have information about crime, contact the Terrace RCMP at 250-638-7400 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers by telephone at 1-800-222-TIPS, online at www.terracecrimestoppers.ca or by texting keyword TERRACE followed by your message to 274637 (CRIMES).