Police say property crime is down by 11 percent compared to the same time last year, according to statistics presented to a council committee.
Kamloops RCMP Supt. Jeff Pelley presented first quarter statistics for 2025 to council’s safety and security committee on May 22.
The stats show an overall decrease in property crime, including a 51 percent decrease (from 104 to 51) in break-and-enters on businesses, a 45 percent decline (98 to 54) in thefts of motor vehicles and a 28 percent decrease (168 to 121) in thefts from vehicles.
“We’ve had some great successes over the past quarter, with some substantial decreases but also some areas that have had some increases in crime,” Pelley told council’s safety and security committee.
The increases include break-and-enters to residences up 27 percent (from 36 to 46) and other break-and-enters, up 77 percent (48 to 85). The number of shoplifting offences increased by two percent, up from 361 to 368.
In total, Kamloops RCMP logged 725 property crime offences in the first quarter of the year, a low mark in the past four. The highest first quarter was seen in 2023, with 1,044 offences recorded.
Pelley also showed figures on prolific offenders in Kamloops. He said of the city’s 12 prolific offenders, six were in custody as of April 2, and overall they are involved in 19 active files.
Coun. Katie Neustaeter remarked that “such a small number of people are able to absorb so many of our resources,” pointing to the strain put on policing by prolific offenders.
“It’s very hard for the general public to understand why this is able to continue. That’s probably my most common question I get surrounding crime. Why are a dozen or so people able to perpetuate so much of this crime, and there’s not much that can be done about it,” she said.
Pelley said there is “extreme frustration” in dealing with prolific offenders.
“Obviously there’s advocacy for change, with regards to bail reform and focusing on those individuals who have comprehensive records and why they should be released back into our community,” he said.
Pelley said it takes “a substantial amount of resource time” to get these individuals back before the courts, and that it is “quite astonishing” these offenders keep being released back in the community.
Pelley said in the first quarter of the year, charges were recommended against a prolific offender three times, each for breach of conditions.
Neustaeter said she’s heard “nothing defensible” about how things are currently working with regard to repeat offenders.
“I still cannot understand, for all the explanations in the world, why catch and release is something we’re doing, why that’s something that continues to be downloaded onto your membership and the unbelievable frustration that must be experienced by those who are doing enforcement to arrest and re-arrest and put lives on the line,” she said.