When Lori Pederson and her friend David Lastik arrived at the base of the Garibaldi Lake hiking trail they were greeted by a carpet of glass.
“It was horrendous seeing it,” the Surrey resident said.
For the past three years the avid hiker regularly visits the Garibaldi Provincial Park. It’s one of her favourite places to ramble through the woods. But on Monday morning, July 21, at approximately 9 a.m. the area felt tainted when Pederson saw that 25 cars had smashed windows.
In his three years of working at the Squamish RCMP, Sgt. Wayne Pride says he’s never seen anything like this.
“This was ridiculous.”
A thief or thieves hit cars in both the top and bottom parking lots, located north of Squamish. There have been car thefts in this area before, but this latest incident took them to a new level, Pride said, noting it generated attention from RCMP headquarters.
While there was a lot of damage — smashed windows — the good news is there weren’t a lot of items stolen. Police are running an ongoing investigation on the thefts and have some strong leads, Pride said.
Squamish RCMP would love to place video cameras in a number of BC Park’s parking lots, but it isn’t a simple process, Pride said. Many jurisdictions would need to be involved, and getting the authorization to record video in a park is problematic, he noted.
Funding is another stumbling block, Pride said, noting police would love to conduct bike patrols of parks in close proximity to Squamish, however they have difficultly mandating their regular patrols.
“There are always partnerships that could be done,” he said in regards to surveillance.
Advancements in technology could offer some cheaper solutions to the regular surveillance, Pride said, noting the use of web cams and gaming cameras.
Pride hopes police will have a suspect in custody soon.
“It’s bad for tourism,” he said.
Pederson said it’s put a wrench into plans for her upcoming weekend. The string of thefts has her rethinking her future hikes in the area.
“It makes me nervous,” Pederson said.
