Pubdate: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 Source: Kelowna Capital News (CN BC) Copyright: 2006, West Partners Publishing Ltd. Contact: http://www.kelownacapnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1294 Author: Jennifer Smith DRUG CRIME RESURGENCE PROMPTS HARD QUESTIONS A resurgence of drug issues on downtown streets drew some pointed questions from city council Monday. During RCMP Superin-tendent Bill McKinnon's monthly crime statistics report, Coun. Andre Blanleil said he has seen an increase in drug activity in the downtown core and is hearing feedback from the business community that there are more problems on the streets, but doesn't know why. "Like I've said many times before, there's going to be periods where we're doing pretty well and periods where we're not," McKinnon told him, acknowledging he's aware of the issue. Of particular concern is the area surrounding the now vacant A&B Sound building on Leon Avenue council heard. McKinnon promised the downtown enforcement unit is working on the problem and that officers have made significantly more drug seizures this month as a result. As for the rest of the city, the city's top cop said his biggest concern from October's crime statistics is an apparent rise in theft over last year's figures. "The one statistic that does concern me is where we do see a significant rise in the 'theft under' category," he said. His figures show 508 incidents of theft under $5,000 recorded for October 2006, a 10.6 per cent increase over the 459 reports filed for the same offense in October 2005. There were also 11 reports of theft over $5,000 this October, compared to just four during the same month last year. McKinnon told councillor's he has also put forth a resolution at a meeting of provincial police chiefs to have the hours of Grant's Law changed to force gas stations to only accept prepayment for gas. Named for late gas jockey Grant De Patie who was killed in a gas and dash crime in Mission, B.C., the law currently imposes a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on gas payment forcing gas stations to switch to prepayment only during those hours. Of 176 gas-and-dash thefts in the City of Kelowna, however, just 13 occurred during the restricted time frame, McKinnon said. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek