Policing services for the City of Kelowna are provided by the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP
is a national,
federal, provincial and municipal policing body which is separately
accountable to the public at each of these levels
through existing legislation and agreements with contracting partners.
The City of Kelowna Detachment of the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police was established in 1950 when the RCMP
absorbed the British Columbia Provincial Police.
Kelowna received its first Provincial Constable in 1905, the same year
it was incorporated as a city. RCMP
policing
services are maintained 24 hours a day and are currently handled by 115
officers along with 50 support staff.
The Plainclothes section is a support unit for General Duty Personnel.
Investigations that involve the more serious
offences within the Criminal Code or are of a complex nature are
assigned to this section. Different units within this
section include Serious Crime, Drug and General Investigations.
Enforce traffic laws, investigate serious motor vehicle accidents,
coordinate all traffic training for the detachment, and
maintain radar and roadside screening devices.
Uniformed members are responsible for general patrols to ensure a police
presence within the community. General
Duty is first responders to all life threatening situations and
potential natural disasters.
The Crime Prevention section includes a public education program,
community policing administration and the
neighbourhood watch program. In addition to the main police office
situated downtown, three Community Policing
Offices are in operation in the Mission, Glenmore and Rutland
neighbourhoods. The success of Community Policing
in Kelowna can be attributed, in part, to the more than two hundred
highly skilled and trained community volunteers.
Our extremely active volunteers assist with the Community Policing
Offices and associated crime prevention
initiatives. Citizen Patrols and the Neighbourhood Watch program are
initiatives of this section
Kelowna Youth and Family Services is an intervention/prevention
counselling program aimed at young offenders and
at-risk youth. This highly acclaimed program helps as many as five
hundred families a year.
This section provides for prisoner supervision and court liaison
services.