Prince George Mounties are continuing to combat theft in the city, recently arresting six people in a 24-hour span after conducting a bait property operation to close out February.
Five men and one woman were taken into custody last Thursday (Feb. 27) and Friday (Feb. 28) after they attempted to steal property planted by the Downtown Safety Unit.
"Our bait programs are an effective use of our resources and produce positive results every time they are deployed in our community," said S/Sgt. Kent MacNeill, acting Operations Officer for the Prince George RCMP, in a news release this morning (March 4).
"We want thieves to think twice before they make a decision to take anything that does not belong to them."
All suspects, excluding one man that was discovered to be breaching his probation the night of his arrest, were released on promise to appear in Prince George court at a future date.
Aaron Joseph Glover, the only suspect RCMP have named form this latest stint, was charged the next day by the BC Prosecution Service has been remanded into custody until his Friday, March 6 court date.
Details about the six arrests are as follows:
THURSDAY, FEB. 27
Two men were arrested after 11 p.m. by frontline officers assigned to the Downtown Safety Unit after stealing deployed bait property.
According to RCMP, the same bait was stolen within a few minutes of being redeployed, this time by a 33-year-old woman and 35-year-old man, who were caught and arrested as well.
All four were later released with documents to appear in court on June 3.
FRIDAY, FEB. 28
The Prince George RCMP once again set up bait property in the city’s downtown around 9 p.m. and with a ‘short period of time,’ a man stole the item, later identified as Aaron Joseph Glover and is known to local police.
The 34-year-old was found to be breaching his probation order from a previous arrest and was held until appearing in court on Saturday (Feb. 29).
Glover was charged with theft under $5,000, failing to comply with probation and failing to comply with his release order, and will remain in custody until his next court date on Friday (March 6).
Two hours after his arrest, a 41-year-old man was chased on foot after stealing bait property the RCMP had put downtown.
Like all the Friday night arrests, he was also taken into custody and later released on a promise to appear in court on June 3.
“The Prince George RCMP will continue to deploy bait property and other tactics to identify and arrest those persons responsible for property related crime in our community,” reads today’s release.
“The Prince George RCMP would like to thank the management and staff of the Coast Hotel, Ramada Hotel and the Courtyard Hotel for their continued cooperation with police to help combat property crime in downtown Prince George.”
Anyone with more information about property crimes in their area is encouraged to call the Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300, anonymously contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or go online at www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca.
