Mosaic Books in downtown Kelowna, B.C., has seen its fair share of disruptions, many of them at the hands of repeat offenders.
“Our business downtown has been plagued with this for so long, we’ve just kind of given up,” said Mosaic Books owner Michael Neill.
Neill said shoplifting, loitering and property damage are among the regular occurrences that impact his business and many others across the city.
“It’s been very frustrating,” Neill told Global News.
So much so, staff have a binder with photos of the repeat offenders and a description of the offence
“This has been our book of shame, I guess. An incident book,” Neill said. “So that we can at least let the staff know who they’re looking (for).”
Neill, however, has new hope that better days may be ahead as the City of Kelowna pushes for meaningful judicial changes at the provincial and federal levels.
The city has sent off a 14-page letter to both levels of government titled Chronic Offenders-Closing the Revolving Door.
“Municipalities cannot deal with this on their own,” said Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas.
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The document is very Kelowna-specific.
It states that in 2024, 15 offenders accounted for 1, 335 police files generated at the Kelowna RCMP detachment.
The letter also adds the city has seen a fourfold increase in non-compliance with bail conditions in the past five years.
The document also reveals significant gaps when it comes to B.C’s charge rate, including Kelowna.
While the national charge rate in the past decade has declined by 11 per cent over the past decade, B.C’s rate has plummeted by 43 per cent. Kelowna is down by 48.5 per cent while incidents of crime is up by 5.5 per cent in the same time period.
“What’s happening is we’re not holding those individuals accountable,” Dyas said.
One of the calls for action in the letter involves more Crown prosecutors.
The city is asking the province for at least five more in Kelowna to keep up with the growing demand.
The city is also amplifying its calls for bail reform and wants the province to bring in mandatory compassionate care.
“Because as a community, we have worked towards creating an avenue forward for those individuals who want to find a better way forward. Examples would be tiny homes, our supportive housing, also our social network,” Dyas said.
“But there’s a group of individuals who need more care and it is not compassionate to leave them on our streets.”
Neill is hoping the badly-needed changes can be implemented to finally help turn the page for everyone who works and lives in the city.
“Just so happy to hear about this and read about this,” Neill said. “It’s long overdue.”
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