An all night party, described by several Keremeos residents as a “rave” raised the ire of many village and area residents on Saturday, October 4.
“It was a loud party, generating many calls to police,” said Keremeos RCMP detachment head Mike Gallagher.
The party involved 50 to 60 people and took place in the vicinity of the former Farmworkers Campground, east of the village.
Generators, boom boxes - even a DJ - were part of the event, which police responded to around 11 p.m. Saturday night. They managed to tone the proceedings down somewhat, but early Sunday morning the noise picked up again.
It was noted the party consisted largely of English speaking youths. The presence of sound and power generating equipment also suggested to many that the partiers were of local, or regional, origin.
Gallagher said the detachment received a number of noise complaints after 2 a.m. Sunday, adding the incident is currently under police review.
“I think there were things we could have done better,” he said.
Currently, there are no communities under 5,000 population in the Okanagan and Similkameen that have 24 /7 policing. Communities looking for fulltime policing would bear the brunt of the additional cost, which would not be cheap.
“There are no plans for 24/7 coverage in Keremeos,” said Gallagher, “it’s simply not feasible at this time, based on community policing statistics.”