Part one of this series is dedicated to concerns from residents about what they say is an increase in crime. In the following weeks, you’ll also hear from homeless residents, business owners, the district’s decision makers and, finally, explore some possible solutions.
“This was supposed to be our happy place. The place we moved to so I could heal,” says Sechelt resident Serena Trinder. “But it’s turned into a nightmare.”
Trinder and husband Gary Trinder moved to Sechelt from Mission last November, after Serena underwent surgery to remove a tumour, which left her uncertain about her future ability to walk. Because of that, the couple purposely chose their home due to its serenity, privacy and proximity to the water. Trinder says it wasn’t long after they moved in that her initial sense of well-being began to lessen and her stress levels began to rise.
“We have people prowling around and coming and going at all hours through the night, it's been a rat run so we had gates and security lights installed because we’re terrified. We've already had stuff stolen from the garden and all sorts of things, including my sister’s memorial statue,” says Trinder, who adds a full security system is in the works.
She says the statue was meant to go in their garden once it was complete, but instead it was stolen and months later found damaged in some nearby brush. But the stolen memorial is just the tip of the iceberg. Trinder says she was recently threatened by a man standing near their home, who charged towards her with his fist raised, and when their new perimeter alarm went off three weeks ago, they watched as a woman carrying a long, sharpened spike scrambled through the bushes onto their property. Trinder says in response to the alarm, the woman started waving the spike around but finally left through their gate. That’s when Trinder drove to the Sechelt RCMP station to report the incident. Told she wasn’t able to speak to an officer in person, Trinder says she sat outside the station and reported the incident by phone.
The Trinder’s neighbour Julia Atkins says, adding insult to injury, the woman in the photo had one of her handmade shopping bags draped over her shoulder – one of the unique bags stolen during a break-in of their shed, while they were out of town in July. Also gone was a chainsaw, the replacement for the one stolen last year, and an e-bike. As well, the thieves had loaded up a gas generator and electrical log splitter into their garbage and recycling bins, but Atkins assumes they must have been interrupted because they were left behind.
“And we found our garage window broken and its an attached garage, so once you're in the garage, you're basically in the house,” says Atkins, who adds there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to what goes missing, with the exception of its resale value.
She says it’s common knowledge most items stolen in Sechelt end up at the “tent city” area on Hightide Road across the street from RainCity Housing, a shelter created to house “low-income individuals, 19 years of age or older who live in the community, have a history of homelessness, and who need additional support services to maintain housing.”
Atkins notes people who’ve been broken into often head to the camp in an attempt to either take their items back or buy them back off the person who stole from them.
Ebbtide Street resident Bruce Stewart is one of those people. He says when his brand-new propane tank was stolen, he knew exactly where to look.
“I went up there and saw it sitting outside of a tent,” says Stewart, who adds when he walked up to the tent, a woman came out of it and said, “There’s nobody in there right now,” suggesting he was there in search of sex.
Stewart replied, “No, I’m just here for my propane tank,” which he grabbed and took home. Looking back, he realizes heading to the camp alone might not have been his best idea.
“After I heard a lot more stories, I started thinking maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to do.”
But Atkins says she knows plenty of residents, including herself and her husband, who do the same.
“What a lot of them are doing is stealing it or taking it back to tent city or RainCity, whichever one they live in, and holding it for ransom, because we know that when our stuff gets stolen, that’s where it goes. So, we have to go down and buy our stuff back from them.”
Atkins says in a two-week period in July, there were 10 break ins and thefts in their neighbourhood. Frustrated at what they consider inaction from authorities, Atkins and the Trinders organized a last-minute, ad hock community meeting as a way to come up with ideas for supporting each other. They distributed flyers to 25 homes and 18 people showed up, including a woman from Porpoise Bay Road who said she’d been broken into three times and all of the food in the freezer stored in her shed was also taken.
Both the Trinders and Atkins say letters to Mayor John Henderson have gone unanswered, which is why they turned to the media. They’re also among the many residents curious as to why crime statistics for Sechelt aren’t readily available online, as they are for other areas of the Sunshine Coast, including Gibsons.
But, according to those statistics supplied to the Coast Reporter from the RCMP, there is no rise in crime and, in fact, bike theft is reportedly down to one from April to June, down from eight in the second quarter of 2023. It’s an indication people aren’t reporting these thefts because the Coast Reporter heard from at least five residents who said they’ve had a bike stolen in recent months.
Residential break and enter remained at seven, compared to 2023, while break and enter from businesses were down from 17 to eight. “Other” break and enter stats were up from five to nine. Meanwhile, mischief to property was up from 48 to 53, and theft under $5,000 was down from 29 to 22.
Sunshine Coast RCMP Staff Sgt. Jennifer Prunty says the stats are based on what gets reported.
“We recognize that there's a barrier to reporting for some people in that they don't want to wait on hold with E-Comm to get their file through, so we do have online crime reporting that people can use for situations that don't require immediate police attendance,” says Prunty.
Those online reports are then added to the stats, says Prunty.
“That's a message that we continue to try and get out to the public that, even though they think, ‘well, the police aren't going to do anything about it. There's nothing the police can do about it,’ there is and it helps us with creating the picture of what kind of crime is happening in what neighborhoods so that we can target our resources to those.”
You can read more from the RCMP next week in part two of this series.
Many residents the Coast Reporter has heard from, either in person or via email, are calling for a community meeting to discuss the issue, but according to the District of Sechelt there are no plans for such an event.
“We have received a couple of emails from residents and understand their concerns,” Lindsay Vickers, manager of communications for the District of Sechelt said in an email to Coast Reporter. “Council is certainly aware of the safety issues and concerns of residents, particularly in the downtown core. Aside from the safety committee that meets regularly, and nightly security patrols, council and staff also meet with the RCMP, Sechelt Downtown Business Association and other groups and citizens to come up with solutions about the issues facing downtown. Council is advocating with other levels of government and organizations to help bring solutions to Sechelt. We encourage people to be aware and always report any suspicious activity to the RCMP.”
Look for part two of this series next week, when the “unhoused” residents of the tent city on Hightide Street have their say. (They hate that term, by the way.)
