Another year of keeping the community safe, even more so in times of hardship and uncertainty, has been rewarded for those in uniform.
Today (Jan. 28), Northern B.C. Crime Stoppers unveiled its annual winners of the Officer and Watch of the Year honours following after the community sent in 230 tips that led to seven arrests and the seizure of nearly $64,000 in property and drugs.
“The volunteer board of directors reviews the tips that police have investigated and recognizes one Watch and one Officer from the detachment who made extra efforts to support the Crime Stoppers program,” an RCMP release states.
Here are the recipients of the eighth annual awards presentation, which was done privately with COVID-19 safety guidelines.
OFFICER OF THE YEAR
Cst. Ryan Underhill has served in Prince George for nearly a decade.
He’s worked in several different units, according to RCMP, enjoys investigating drug-related offences and working as a team.
"I am honoured to be the recipient of this award and thank the Crime Stoppers board for their consideration," said Underhill.
"Crime Stoppers is a great program that gives the public an anonymous way to provide information to the police, so that we can use this information to make arrests and seize drugs, which makes Prince George a safer place."
Before venturing to the northern capital, Underhill began his deployment in Ladysmith for 3.5 years after graduating in 2008 from the RCMP training academy.
WATCH OF THE YEAR
Northern B.C. Crime Stoppers 2020 recipients are the Prince George RCMP’s General Duty ‘D’ Watch Unit.
The team consists of 12 general duty Constables, two Corporals, a Sergeant and Staff Sergeant, and is led by S/Sgt. Chris Riddle, who, through help from anonymous tips last year, were able to curb further crimes in the drug trade as well as those property-related.
“Some of our success depends on information from the public through programs like Crime Stoppers," explained Riddle.
"We want to thank the Northern B.C. Crime Stoppers Society for this award and encourage the public to utilize this anonymous program to provide information about criminal activities in our community. Every bit of information helps to make our community a safer place.”
Cst. Kevin Reid was 2019’s Officer of the Year, while Sgt. Chad Chamberlain’s Street Crew Unit was Watch of the Year.
Across the region in 2020, Northern B.C. Crime Stoppers reported received almost 1,000 tips from the public.
This led to 31 arrests, 10 closed cases and 11 cash rewards, as well as $144,000 in drugs and $7,500 in cash were seized and recovered.
The organization is encouraging anyone that has information about community crimes that could be valuable to police to contact Northern B.C. Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or go online to www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca.
