Victoria, BC – VicPD Investigators and Victoria Fire Department personnel are working closely together in the investigation into a series of reports of break and enters to businesses that appear to be linked by the method of entry – defeating Victoria Fire Department key vaults.
Key vaults allow firefighters immediate access to buildings during a fire or other emergency. Their use is standard practice around the world.
The first reports of break and enters in which the method of entry may have been through defeated key vaults were linked by investigators on September 21st. Since that time, Victoria Fire Department and Victoria Police Department personnel have worked to confirm the method of entry, link potential similar incidents, gather evidence, conduct investigations and vitally, secure the key vaults.
Since September 21st, Victoria Fire Department personnel have worked to proactively secure the key vaults. The Victoria Fire Department has custody and control of all vault keys and are working with VicPD to ensure that building access security is restored.
Meanwhile, VicPD officers are investigating the circumstances of the break and enters to determine who is responsible and how many businesses have been affected. Our investigation is active and ongoing, which means we are limited in what we can release at this time. We are currently not able to release how many businesses have been impacted, nor are we able to provide a list of items stolen at this point, in order to protect our ongoing investigation. No one has been injured in these incidents. We’ll release details from our investigation as we are able.
If you have information about this series of incidents you are asked to call the our non-emergency line at (250) 995-7654. To report what you know anonymously by calling Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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