Skip to content

Central Saanich police see spike in suspicious circumstance calls

Police received 405 calls for service in June, including 21 of suspicious circumstances
17888361_web1_190729-PNR-JuneCrimeStatsCSaanich
Central Saanich Police Service had 405 calls for service last month. (Pixabay File)

Central Saanich Police Service dealt with a variety of crimes in June, including a jump in responding to calls regarding “suspicious circumstances.”

The department, which has 25 sworn members, received 405 calls for service, in June. These included five assaults, four impaired drivers and 32 traffic incidents.

ALSO READ: Central Saanich Fire Dept. now sun powered – good for budget and environment

Suspicious circumstances calls jumped to 21 in June, up from 16 in May.

“Suspicious circumstances calls are those calls the police receive that relate to persons, vehicles or activities that are out of character within a particular area. Often they correlate to criminal activity, which may include drug trafficking or property crime offences, including break and enter and theft from vehicles,” says Deputy Chief Derren Lench, of the Central Saanich Police Service.

The police say the public can provide valuable information about things that seem out of place. They ask that if you do see something suspicious to record as much information as possible, including descriptions of either a vehicle or person. Useful details include license plate numbers, descriptions of the individuals’ clothing, what actions they are taking, and their direction of travel.

ALSO READ: Central Saanich accused of not following Climate Emergency declaration with urgent action

“The police strongly encourage the public to continue to call us with these suspicious circumstances as they are valuable in collecting evidence when crimes may be occurring. We take these calls very seriously,” says Lench.

Over the month, the police also responded to six mischief incidents, six frauds, four thefts from vehicles and four collisions.



nick.murray@peninsulanewsreview.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter