The Whistler RCMP received a report of male with a knife on the Village Stroll just after 2 a.m. on Sept. 7. Officers attended and found the male being held by bar staff, who turned him over to police. The male was arrested for possession of a weapon and uttering threats, and was held until he was sober before being released with a date to appear in court. The 36-year-old Whistler male was being ejected from the nightclub when the incident occurred.
Bait bike program promising, but people need to report stolen bikes
The number of reports of stolen bicycles is down significantly since the launch of the Whistler RCMP bait bike program and educational campaign in July.
From July 20 to September 10, 2012, the RCMP logged 53 reports of stolen bikes in Whistler. During the same period this year, with the bait bike program in effect, there have been just 31 reports. Sgt. Rob Knapton of the Whistler RCMP said it was too early to hail the bait bike program as a success, but the numbers are promising.
"It's nice to see a reduction like that, and we'll see if that continues as we continue to work on this program," he said.
However, while the number of stolen bikes is dropping, the RCMP's largest success with the program so far — the arrest of two individuals with a stolen bait bike and seven other bikes on Aug. 16 — has revealed that the issue of bike thefts may be seriously underreported. The RCMP has yet to find the owners of four of the bikes recovered from the rental truck.
Knaptop said it's up to the owners to report their bikes stolen, even if they don't have insurance or don't think there's any chance they'll get them back.
"It's something we need... to be able return bikes to the owner, and to prove that it was actually a stolen bike when we arrest someone," he said. "(If we can't find the owner) we can't prove the property was stolen in the first place."
The value is of the bikes that have been returned to the owners in that particular case is unknown at this time, but it could make the difference between the charge of theft under $5,000 and more serious charge of theft over $5,000.
If you've had a bike stolen and haven't reported it to police, call 604-932-3044, or drop by the Whistler detachment.
GranFondo rider recovering
An RBC GranFondo Whistler rider is recovering in hospital after being evacuated from the bike course by helicopter on Saturday, Sept. 7. The cyclist, whose name hasn't been released, reportedly went down as he rode along on Highway 99 just north of Alice Lake and may have been experiencing a health issue before he fell.
The B.C. Ambulance Service has confirmed that an air ambulance was dispatched at about 10 a.m. to transport the man to hospital. Witnesses at the scene said the man looked to be about 60 years of age. There was no obvious cause for the crash.
Lindsay Carswell, the GranFondo director of revenue, marketing and communications, said the event participant suffered head injuries after he crashed about two kilometres north of an aid station that was set up near Alice Lake Road. According to Carswell, the injured man went down on his own and no motor vehicles or bikes were involved in the crash.
Carswell said responders attended to him and they determined an air ambulance was required to take the man to Vancouver General Hospital.
"We're all hoping that he recovers and we definitely are saddened to hear that occurred," said Carswell.
That wasn't the only police report from the Granfondo. On Saturday morning, a vehicle was struck from behind after slowing down for a cone truck on Highway 99. One of the occupants of the vehicle that was hit from behind suffered minor injuries, as his vehicle was pushed into the cone truck.
And just after 9 a.m., police monitoring traffic at Village Gate Boulevard asked the drivers of two sport cars, a Maserati and Tesla, to backtrack after turning on the road illegally and ignoring the sign holder. Rather that drive out the right way, the drivers drove off at a high rate of speed. They were stopped, and drivers received roughly $600 in traffic tickets.
— With files from John French
