Kamloops Victim Services reminds residents of impacts of crime

KAMLOOPS — Victim Services and Kamloops RCMP are reminding residents to reach out for National Victims and Survivors of Crime Week, which runs until May 21. Those who have faced traumatic events or experienced crimes don’t have to face them alone.

Many people who are victims of crime experience a range of emotions. Kamloops Victim Services and RCMP members are trained to help them through the trauma.

“All of our staff and volunteers are trained and they have a lot of compassion and they have a lot of training that will help them support people who are going through something that could be one of the worst days of their lives,” says Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Dana Napier.

According to the Crime Prevention Coordinator Lisa Gammel, of the different services they provide, empathy and listening are most important.

“We’ll be able to listen to what your concerns are, the things you’re struggling with, and we’ll be able to give some options and information so that you can make an informed decision on how you may want to handle a situation or how you may want to proceed.”

Everyone is affected by crime differently. From a business point of view, it’s the cost of crime.

RTR Performance saw a string of break-ins in 2021 that cost them more than $20,000.

“The biggest one was out in the lot where they broke into the lot and they stole a few units and some dirt bikes, some generators, they tried to get away with a side-by-side but came up unsuccessful. But other than that, it’s been a lot of gear — thousands of dollars worth of expensive riding gear. It adds up,” says RTR Performance General Manager Alison Seneshen.

The Valleyview dealership has dealt with this issue time and time again and during November of last year, say it was hard to keep being positive something would change.

Seneshen adds that RTR had to ramp up security to prevent further break-ins.

“We’ve put out black-out decals now so you can’t see in. We’re just doing everything we can. We’ve had to get better security. We’ve got more monitoring. We’ve gotten as much as we can but there’s still only so much we can do.”

Whether the crime affects people’s mental state or physical state, RCMP and Victim Services reminds people to reach out for help when needing support services.

“One of the services that we offer with Victim Services is to provide a referral service and a first point of contact when there has been some type of a crime or a traumatic event that somebody has unfortunately been part of. What that can do is really help people feel the support right from the start of the investigation right through to the end. If it ends up going through court into trial, they can have that contact, they can have that reassurance all the way through,” adds Napier.

Members of the public can reach Victim Services by calling (250) 828-3223.