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Locals are noticing now more than ever and increase in harassment in the downtown area.
The red zone is considered Kelowna’s hotbed for crime, and police constantly deal with drug trafficking, assaults, and robberies within the area.
Last weekend, a local woman reported being chased into her apartment building by a man who appeared to be intoxicated. She said that she and a few of her friends have noticed an increase in these types of incidents just in the past couple of months.
Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey of the Kelowna RCMP says that following the incident, RCMP conducted patrols of the area, but were unable to locate the individual. They are currently asking anyone who witnessed the incident, or has any information about the man, to contact the police.
Jacklyn Locking, another Kelowna woman, says that she has also noticed it getting worse, and has experienced similar incidents within the last couple of weeks.
She says that the red zone is expanding, or at least getting worse.
In the span of a few weeks, she has had two run-ins of the same kind, having been chased by a man while walking in the downtown area.
While walking near City Park at around 5 p.m. on October 29th, she recounts an encounter with a man she describes as thin, dirty, and judging by his mannerism, on drugs.
“My gut instincts told me to start moving faster,” she says. “He started mumbling and yelling, and he gets up and starts motioning towards me.”
She started to pick up her pace, and the man began to chase her as she fled for safety.
Locking also recounted a second, more recent incident where she was walking down Pandosy near the highway on Friday, November 10th at around 7:30 a.m.
She says she was followed and harassed by a man for a block as she was entering downtown. The man was in his 20s or 30s, Caucasian, tall, wearing a navy blue coat and a gray shirt, and had blonde hair in messy, short dreadlocks.
The man continuously yelled gibberish at her, even jumping into traffic at some points, as she was walking towards her bus stop. The man eventually left her alone, parting at Leon Ave, but the incident left her rattled.
Locking says that there isn’t enough being done to combat this growing problem in the city.
“This past year, It’s definitely gotten worse… I probably call the cops once a month at least when something super strange happens.”
Although she doesn’t know exactly what the best thing to do is, Locking suggests that at least something should be done, like increasing the red zone patrol.
She suggests that the offenders often found in the red zone are spilling over, and the area where they are active is larger than the official zone takes into account.
O'Donaghey says that, to his knowledge, the area of red zone remains unchanged, and is bounded by Rowcliffe Ave and Lake Ave to the south, Doyle Ave and Stockwell Ave to the north, Ethel St to the east and Okanagan Lake to the west.
Locking says that downtown patrol is great, but won’t help her when walking past the zone to her apartment.
“I phone anytime something really sketchy happens, and I’d say one out of 12 times they come. I don't think it’s because the police don’t care, I think it’s just because they’re spread so thin right now. We have a drug epidemic in our town right now - it’s bad.”
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