Police to review security at the Grand Forks detachment after b & e
By Mona Mattei
While the Grand Forks detachment of the RCMP can be satisfied they have solved the case of another break-and-enter, the seriousness of this particular case cannot be overlooked. The Grand Forks headquarters of the RCMP was the site of this crime. Sometime between the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 11 and the morning of Thursday Aug. 12, a distraction staged by the thieves drew officers out to a call in Greenwood while the crime took place – an elaborate ruse to gain only a few ounces of marijuana. “This separate container, compared to the detachment, there’s a security system and alarm on that container, but certainly it’s not as secure as the actual detachment. Within the detachment the exhibits are stored in another area which has very limited access. They may have been looking for something else and settled for (the drugs),” said Staff Sergeant Dan Seibel, acting district officer for the RCMP. Seibel also said he doesn’t understand the motive behind the crime, but he’s satisfied that the local officers were able to solve the crime in a matter of days, and they solved some other cases as well when they executed a search warrant at the home of Justin Douglas of Greenwood, B.C. Douglas, 35, was arrested and appeared in court on Aug. 23. “We’re very pleased that on Aug. 12 this happens and then by the 19th we have recovered some of the stolen property back and have charges against Justin Douglas for that offence,” said Seibel. When the officers at the Grand Forks detachment were dispatched to Greenwood, the suspects cut the fence of the lock up area behind the RCMP’s offices and broke into a metal shipping container that is used as a back up to the main lock up inside the actual detachment building. They made off with three bags of marijuana, evidence from the grow op bust in Christina Lake earlier in that week, and some exhibit envelopes with other drugs while officers investigated the false report. “It’s a temporary storage locker for exhibits and other items at the detachment. Suspects used some kind of cutting tools or torch to gain entry bracing the door into the storage locker. They stole over a dozen items. It was determined that the caller placed a false report, we feel, to draw the member away from the office and leave it unattended to allow them access to the sea container,” explained Seibel. Grand Forks officers soon turned around the situation when they were able to search Douglas’ home. They found the property stolen from the detachment as well as an ATV, a generator and several other items. Officers are currently reviewing reports to identify the owners of the items found, said Seibel. Also found at Douglas’ home were weapons including a 12-gauge shotgun, a .303 rifle and a .22 rifle, all loaded, as well as 15 sticks of dynamite wrapped together with a home-made-style fuse, two sticks of dynamite wrapped together with a home-made-style fuse, two single sticks of dynamite and a grenade. While the value of the marijuana was not high, Seibel indicated that some of the drug was actually shake, a lower quality of the plant which is not worth much in street sales, he indicated that the value is unknown. Seibel said that the detachment will be reviewing security. “We’re going to look at our security system too, review that and try and improve it so that something similar doesn’t occur again.”
