At home, vehicle thefts are warning Okanagan homeowners and drivers to lock the doors

RCMP are reminding Okanagan homeowners and drivers to lock their doors after a number of recent thefts were caught on camera.

Kelowna, BC, resident Erica Krauseneck watched in real time as a woman was caught by her neighbor allegedly snooping around her home.

“My neighbor on the left approached the woman and asked if we were expecting her. She muttered a few responses and then jumped. Then my neighbor came and grabbed our Amazon delivery,” Krauseneck said.

Krausenck was not home at the time, but was able to see it happen through her doorbell camera.

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“It's absolutely nerve-wracking to see this happen like this. I'm glad we have doorbell cameras,” Krauseneck said.

A West Kelowna resident, who was also grateful for home cameras, wasn't so lucky.

Last week, a suspected thief broke into Suzanne Casavant's vehicle, where they found her garage opener and stole thousands of dollars worth of property, including two e-bikes from the garage.

“We try to lock our vehicles every night and we are quite diligent about that, but it is clear that they are not just checking randomly, but often. We've had it happen here before with our son's car,” Casavant said.

According to the RCMP, there are tendencies thieves have that people should be aware of.

“We do notice that thieves often take the time to see if there is video surveillance in the area and whether or not there is good lightning in the area,” said Const. Patti Evans, Summerland RCMP.

“They tend to target vehicles that are in darker parking lots or darker driveways.”

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