The Penticton RCMP are reminding residents of a crime reporting website that allows the public to report non-emergency crimes online.
The reminder follows a 911 service disruption that impacted the South and Central Okanagan on Thursday. The cause of the disruption is currently unknown.
“The cause of the outage is currently under investigation with TELUS technicians continuing to work through the night,” E-Comm said in a press release on Thursday.
RCMP said the idea of the online reporting tool is that front-line officers will be free to respond to serious emergencies and provide more time for proactive policing initiatives.
“Every online report received will be reviewed by a supervisor, and should follow-up be required, an officer may still be engaged,” said Penticton RCMP Cst. Dayne Lyons in a press release.
“This modern reporting method will increase our officer’s ability to investigate serious offences and continue efforts to reduce crime in our community.”
Any City of Penticton resident with a valid email address can report a crime online using a computer, smartphone or tablet.
To report a crime online it has to meet specific criteria:
- Your report does not require a follow-up by a police officer.
- You have no witness nor suspect.
- You have lost something that costs less than $5,000.
- Someone has stolen something from you that costs less than $5,000.
- Someone has vandalized your property or vehicle and it will cost less than $5,000 to repair it.
- There are no items involving personal identity, firearms, license plates or decals.