Plain clothes officers seize weapon, alcohol from youths

A project led by Kelowna RCMP’s Community Safety Unit saw members break up a group of intoxicated youths, seizing a weapon and alcohol in the process.

The initiative on Friday, March 31, began with plain clothes officers hitching rides on public buses to monitor and address any concerning behaviours after having received several recent reports of groups of youth troubling passengers and B.C. Transit employees.

Officers in plain clothes separated into teams and rode different buses between UBCO and the Queesnway bus loop. During these trips, the Mounties did not observe any incidents similar to those reported to police.

After dark, both plain clothes and uniformed officers turned their attention to popular areas in the downtown core, where groups of youths were beginning to gather and behave poorly.

The RCMP say in just over an hour of observations and enforcement, a weapon was seized, along with alcohol and drugs, and two people were arrested for being intoxicated in public, one of whom is facing a criminal charge. All of the incidents involved youths.

Plain clothes officers were also forced to intervene with what was expected to escalate into a large fight between two groups of young people.

“This is turning into a recurring problem from what seems to be the same group of people and we remind everyone that we do not tolerate any abusive or violent behaviour anywhere in our community” Sgt. Scott Powrie, Operations NCO of the Community Safety Unit, said.

“These enforcement initiatives will continue until the message is fully received, zero tolerance.”

BC Transit is thanking the RCMP for carrying out the operation.

“The safety of our customers and transit workers is our top priority, and we will continue to work with our local partners in the Kelowna Regional Transit System to provide a safe environment on our buses and at bus stops,” Stephen Anderson, BC Transit Regional Operations Director, said.