By Cpl. Grant Simpson

This past week Columbia Valley RCMP responded to 92 calls for service. A small sample of some of the calls we responded to throughout the week are highlighted below.

Spot beacon accidentally set off

On July 28, at 4:27 p.m., Columbia Valley RCMP received dispatch of a spot beacon activation near the Conrad Kain hut in the Bugaboos. Golden RCMP received an activation from the International Emergency Response Centre. The device is registered to a non-local male however no further information was available. The GPS location provided was 50 44`28.86N 116 46`48.108W. The beacon is able to send and receive texts; however, there was no response to texts sent. Golden and Columbia Valley Search and Rescue were notified and Golden Search and Rescue responded. At 6 p.m. Golden Search and Rescue advised that the male had been located and that he had set the beacon off by accident. He did not require any assistance.

Commercial space B&E

On July 29, at 2:36 p.m.., RCMP was dispatched to a report of a break and enter in the 700 block of 10th Street in Invermere. The local female complainant reported the second door to this commercial space had been pried open and $30 had been taken out of the cash register. The Incident would have happened between July 28 at 10 p.m. and July 29. This happened shortly after it was posted on Facebook that the organization using this space had raised around $8,000 with their last fundraiser. Police attended, took pictures, called on their forensic identification team and continue to investigate this incident.

Cell phone drifter causes crash

On July 30, an off duty Columbia Valley RCMP member was following a black pickup truck, which was driving up Athalmer Hill and drifted over the centre line causing a second vehicle travelling down the hill to swerve in order to avoid a head on collision.

This second vehicle ended up driving up on the concrete barrier to avoid a collision; the pickup truck got so close it struck the driver side mirror of the second vehicle. The off duty police officer followed the pickup truck into the Canadian Tire parking lot and confronted the driver who they felt wouldn’t have stopped for this incident.

An on duty uniformed member was called, attended the scene and spoke with the female driver of the pickup, who admitted to talking on her cell phone and drifting into the lane but didn’t think that she was that far into the lane. The off duty member issued two tickets under the Motor Vehicle Act for Speeding and Fail to Produce Drivers Licence.

Road rage at Radium

On August 1, a female complainant phoned the RCMP to report a road rage incident. She was driving on Highway 93 into Radium Hot Springs with three motorcycles following her, and tailgating her.

At one point they threw a water bottle at her vehicle. She was advised to drive towards Invermere so police could intercept. When she did this, the motorcycles turned the other way and left the area. Police attended and made patrols for three cruiser style motorcycles; the riders of which had full face masks. The motorcyclists were not located at the time. No damage caused to the vehicle by the water bottle.

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