Visitors to the gftv site may have noticed that over the past year or so the coverage has shrunk to mostly City Council and Flood Recovery meetings. Events where I’ve been invited to cover and expected to make public. Because the organizations involved see the value of public access to their public meetings and events especially when not all members of the public can attend at the time of the event. So having someone who can come and take that off their hands for free, or as close to free as you can get, is a good thing.

Between me, YouTube and Facebook, the citizens of Grand Forks and area get a fair amount of free public access to information. Unlike YouTube and Facebook you don’t see any advertising along with your content on gftv.ca or whatsupingrandforks.com. For various reasons I don’t seek money from that revenue stream. I’m not a salesman and cannot afford to hire one. Come tax time I’m just a pensioner with a part time income from a job at the library. Occasional other jobs don’t bring my income up past working poor generally. And I help out as a volunteer with a couple of non-profits in the community as well.

Back in the early days of gftv.ca I did go out and cover events like fires and crime. Even got a used Scanner. I don’t do that anymore. Some of the reasons I’ve covered above. Another reason is the way public service members relate to the media. Generally they are skeptical and not all that accommodating. When you show up at the scene of a Crime or Fire with a camera and microphone and start asking questions you get a very frosty response if the cops and firefighters don’t know you well. That’s just the way it is. Most people in those positions act the same way so please don’t think I’m upset with them because I’m not.

I mention all this because having a busy life means I don’t go out and cover the news the way it should be covered. That doesn’t sit well with the part of me that had dreams for gftv.ca . . . but the real world often doesn’t measure up to our dreams and aspirations, does it?

Add that to the reasons I gave earlier and you might see how easy it is for someone in my position to retreat to covering only those things to which I’m invited and feel it’s within my capabilities. So you get this entity, gftv, that reflects what I can get done on little to no time and money. Having organizations invite me in helps gftv be more useful to the community.

When some organization wants help in getting their message out to the public they usually try to create a mechanism to do that. An update newsletter, a press officer, a communications department . . . a way to pass on that information to the media and public.

I’m Media. A significant portion of the population here gets part of their information through the websites and social media channels I manage. Which is why the city and others use me to get the word out.

In the early days, when I was being ambitious about what I could cover, I got signed up to newsletters from a couple of the RCMP detachments in the area. From Kamloops to Nelson to Trail. And they sent me updates about activities in their area. Reports about programs they’ve conducted. Crime stats. Bulletins about Crime. I stopped republishing those a way back in part because I’d shrunk my focus as I mentioned earlier. But also because it felt strange reporting on what the RCMP was saying in all these other towns but nothing about Grand Forks. Would people think I was somehow biased against the local detachment because I didn’t have anything to say about things happening here?

Well that was actually because the local detachment doesn’t appear to have a habit of keeping the local media informed. The previous reporter for the Gazette and I had conversations about this. How to get them to share? I’ll confess that I haven’t gone off to them to ask them about it – I stopped passing on all RCMP info so it wasn’t something high on my priority list.

But times change. I’m still getting information from other detachments so I’m going to start passing that on to you, the visitors. Because it’s information about what’s happening in the greater community we are all part of.

Here is what the Trail detachment recently shared. Thank you Sergeant Mike Wicentowich.

For Immediate Release

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Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP File # 2019-2315/2316

On May 17, 2019, the Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP received two separate complaints of five people allegedly aggressively panhandling in downtown Trail, BC.  The RCMP located three of the five people believed to be responsible.  The three people were spoken to by the RCMP and left the area.  The remaining two people were not located as they had left the scene after the RCMP were contacted. 

Please contact the Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP at 250-364-2566 to report on aggressive panhandling.

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Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP File # 2019-2328

On May 18, 2019, the Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP received two reports of a suspicious person attempting to open doors of vehicles in a parking lot located in the 1300 block of McQuarrie Street, in Trail, BC.  The vehicles were locked and nothing was stolen.  An unidentified male wearing shorts with long light coloured hair was spotted running away from the scene.  The RCMP conducted patrols in the area for the male but did not locate him.    

The Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP continue to remind the public to lock their vehicles and secure their personal belongings.

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Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP File # 2019-2365

On May 19, 2019, at 2:45 a.m. the Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP were contacted to assist the Kootenay Boundary Fire Rescue with two residential fires occurring at a property in the 1400 block of Fourth Avenue, in Trail, BC.  The property contained four small residences and two were on fire at the time of the report.  The residences were not occupied.  Kootenay Boundary Fire Rescue extinguished the fire and examined the scene for cause.  The fires were discovered to have been intentionally set and the matter turned over to the RCMP.  The Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP, the Nelson RCMP Forensic Investigation Section, and an RCMP trained arson investigator conducted an investigation on the property and in the residences.  The matter remains under investigation. 

The Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP are looking to speak to anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious activity or people at the property and residences around the time of the fire.  The Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP can be contacted at 250-364-2566 or, if you wish to remain anonymous, CRIMESTOPPERS can be contacted at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

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Victoria Day Long Weekend Impaired Driving Enforcement Campaign

The Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP conducted a campaign against impaired driving over the Victoria Day May Long Weekend (May 17-20, 2019).  The campaign was a part of a province-wide enforcement blitz ongoing in the month of May 2019.  Furthermore, Saturday, May 18, 2019, was National Impaired Driving Enforcement Day sponsored by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.     

https://www.icbc.com/about-icbc/newsroom/Pages/2019-May14.aspx (ICBC website for more information about this weekend’s campaign)

https://www.cacp.ca/news/canada-road-safety-week-don’t-be-the-driving-force-behind-traffic-collisions.html (Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police website for more information)

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Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP File # 2019-2324

On May 18, 2019, at 12:09 a.m. the Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP conducted an investigation into the alleged impaired driving of a 25-year-old female driver and her vehicle located outside of a house party in the 100 block of Haig Street, in Warfield, BC.  The driver was found to be under the influence of alcohol while operating a motor vehicle and failed a roadside screening device breath test administered by a RCMP officer.  The driver was issued a three-day Immediate Roadside Prohibition under Section 215.43(1)(a) of the BC Motor Vehicle Act. 

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Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP File # 2019-2326

On May 18, 2019, at 1:50 a.m. the Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP conducted an investigation into the alleged impaired driving of a 18-year-old male driver and his vehicle located outside of a house party along Kitchener Street, in Trail, BC.  The driver was under the restriction to only operated a motor vehicle with 0% blood/alcohol content as he was classified as a “Novice” driver under the BC Motor Vehicle Act.  The driver was found to be under the influence of alcohol while operating a motor vehicle and failed a roadside screening device breath test administered by a RCMP officer.  The driver was issued a 12-hour licence suspension under Section 215(3) of the BC Motor Vehicle Act. 

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Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP File # 2019-2345

On May 18, 2019, at 9:25 p.m. the Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP conducted an investigation into the alleged impaired driving of a 53-year-old male driver and his vehicle while conducting a Road Safety Check Stop, in Fruitvale, BC.  The driver found to be under the influence of alcohol while operating a motor vehicle and failed a roadside screening device breath test administered by a RCMP officer.  The driver was issued a 90-day Immediate Driving Prohibition under Section 215.43(2.1) of the BC Motor Vehicle Act and has his vehicle impounded for 30 days.

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Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP File # 2019-2356

On May 19, 2019, at 1:30 p.m. the Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP conducted an investigation into the alleged impaired driving of a 61-year-old-male who was driving his vehicle erratically on Highway 22 from Genelle to Trail, BC.  The RCMP located the driver at the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital, in Trail, BC, and determined that his ability to drive a motor vehicle was impaired by an overuse of a prescription drug.  The driver failed a Standard Field Sobriety Test administered by a RCMP officer.  The driver was issued a 24 hour driving suspension under Section 215 of the BC Motor Vehicle Act.

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Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP File # 2019-2366

On May 20, 2019, at 06:38 a.m. the Trail and Greater District Detachment RCMP conducted an investigation into the alleged impaired driving of a 25-year-old-male driver and his vehicle located at the Chevron Town Pantry Gas Station, in Trail, BC.   The RCMP determined that his ability to drive a motor vehicle was impaired by an illicit drug.  The driver failed a Standard Field Sobriety Test administered by a RCMP officer.  The driver was issued a 24 hour driving suspension under Section 215 of the BC Motor Vehicle Act.

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Now if you have any information to share with or questions to ask of the RCMP here is the contact info for that detachment. Tell them you heard about it on gftv.ca if you don’t mind. Maybe they’ll pass that on to the local detachment.

Sergeant Mike Wicentowich
NCO i/c Trail Detachment
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) / Government of Canada

mike.wicentowich@rcmp-grc.gc.ca / Tel: 250-368-2180 / Cel: 250-231-1704 / Fax: 250-364-1453

Sergent Mike Wicentowich
S.-off. resp. du Détachement de Trail
Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC) / Gouvernement du Canada

mike.wicentowich@rcmp-grc.gc.ca / Tél. : 250-368-2180 / Tél. cell. : 250-231-1704 / Téléc. : 250-364-1453