Members of a Penticton, B.C., Facebook group say they are fed up with property crime and petty theft and are now taking matters into their own hands.
Penticton business owner Jason Reynen and other like-minded individuals recently started Clean Streets Penticton, which now has more than 2,000 members.
To date, the group has recovered thousands of dollars’ worth of items.
“I’ve heard tons of stories lately of people feeling uncomfortable, even leaving work going to their car, you know, a span of even 20 feet. To me, that’s a major concern and it’s something that we want to help with.”
Reynen said he has had several items stolen from his shop, but the final straw for him came when his bike was stolen from his office.
“Myself personally, (I) obviously recovered the bike that was stolen from my shop. I recovered a couple of iPads that were stolen from my shop, and I have a whole bag full of stuff in my shop of recovered items waiting to go back to their rightful owners,” said Reynen.
Reynan went on to say that the group does not consider themselves vigilantes.
“We want to have an open conversation with the individuals and if those set items are stolen, and we have a picture of them, we know that they are stolen then we just ask them that,” he said.
“If there was any sort of confrontation further from that then we’ll always talk to the police or make a police report.”
The group has caught the attention of Penticton RCMP but Reynen says that they are only trying to help.
“We’re not trying to step on anybody’s toes. If anything, we want to work with the municipality, we want to work with RCMP, we want to work with the local groups that are already here and make a difference,” he said.
Penticton RCMP did not respond to our request for an interview, but in a press release on Tuesday Const. James Grandy said RCMP understands that the community is frustrated.
“Police investigations have become extremely complex, and so has the degree of evidence required to be presented to the courts to conduct a fair and just legal process,” said Grandy in the press release.
“While we understand our community wants faster results, our officers cannot ignore their responsibilities under the law.”
The release went on to say that residents should not take matters into their own hands outside of a legal process.
“Those who take matters into their own hands, outside of a legal process, put themselves and the community as a whole at risk. The provocation of violence may result in serious injuries or other crimes, which further limit our Detachment’s limited resources. These actions can also impede active investigations and legal proceedings,” said Grandy in the press release.
“We want our communities to work with us in a legal and safe way. We encourage our citizens to continue to observe and report suspicious behaviour to us and participate in the court process. However, we cannot condone vigilante-type activities if we are to move toward lasting solutions.”
Meanwhile, the City of Penticton is also aware of the group and acting mayor Katie Robinson said they are open to the idea.
“Really, we just want to work with them and with our other existing groups. Right now. We have no reason to believe that they’re doing anything untoward,” said Robinson.
“They made a point of saying publicly that they are not vigilantes. They’re just looking out for their neighbourhoods. So, if that’s the case, we don’t have any problem with that.”
Robinson added that the city is facing an overwhelming number of prolific offenders and solutions go beyond the help of Clean Streets Penticton.
“We need the province to step up through the justice system on prolific offenders and we need BC Housing to follow through on their promises to us for rehabilitation centers and things like that,” she said.
Reynen agrees that the city is in desperate need of some permanent solutions.
“It’s difficult, the city’s done a great job. They’ve increased police presence, they’ve increased security. I think it goes to the higher-ups again – and it becomes a little bit more political,” he said.
“Giving us beds is one thing, give us a protocol or something to follow so we can get these people off the streets is really what needs to happen.”
Clean Streets is planning to hold a peaceful protest next week outside of city hall to hopefully shed more light on this issue.
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