Dozens of Vernon parking meters targeted by thieves

Thieves have gone after at least 39 Vernon parking meters in just over a week.

The latest thefts happened despite the fact that two people were arrested for the crime last month.

Vernon RCMP report that 21 meters were targeted on the weekend of Feb. 29 to March 1. Another 18 were broken into overnight on March 5 and 6.

Yesterday, March 9, at about 5:45 a.m., Vernon RCMP were called by a resident who spotted a person in a hoodie breaking into parking meters on 33 Street. At about 5 p.m. that evening police got another call about a man on a bike breaking into parking meters.

In both cases, they were not able to catch the suspects.

“This is a crime that can occur relatively quickly as the thief can be in and out of a meter in the matter of minutes,” Cpl. Tania Finn, media relations officer for the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP, said in a news release. “We know that one individual can cause substantial damage to a number of machines in a very short time period. Unfortunately, it appears there are more than one thief targeting the meters here in Vernon.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP non-emergency line of 250-545-7171. Or remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or leaving a tip online at www.nokscrimestoppers.com.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submitphotos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.