It’s unclear why the RCMP took almost two months to release information to the public surrounding a report of a man allegedly exposing himself to a young girl near Keremeos.
RCMP issued a release Friday morning about the incident that took place April 16 at about 5:40 p.m.
Cpl. Dave Tyreman, a media relations officer for the RCMP, said the release wasn’t so much a news release but a public notice in hopes of advancing the investigation.
Tyreman who is based out of Prince George works with investigating officers in several different RCMP branches and helps filter information out to media and the public.
He said he was not aware why investigating officers did not ask to issue a release earlier.
“We put this release out looking for information from the public to identify this individual,” he said, adding later in the interview with the Review, “the most important thing is identifying this person so this doesn’t happen again.”
Although he couldn’t speak specifically to the details of the current case, Tyreman speculated that there are many reasons officers might release information several weeks or months after an incident.
Reasons include the investigative officers have identified a suspect but need the public’s assistance in placing the person in the area including surveillance video and eye witness accounts.
Police also might issue a release weeks after the fact if a lead turns cold or if they think a person of interest might flee before being caught if the information is released earlier.
Cpl. Sean Hall, the acting commander of the Keremeos detachment, was unavailable to provide information about why the release was not issued earlier as he is currently working an unrelated case in Penticton.
Although little was released about the incident a lengthy description of the man and the vehicle was provided.
The man was described as being; light skin, possibly Caucasian in his late 20s with short black hair, approximately 1-2 inches long. The man has dark coloured eyes, approximately 5’7” tall, slender build with muscular arms. The man possibly has acne.
He has a tattoo of a lizard or dragon on his right upper arm and has rings on every other finger on both hands. He has a piercing on his left eyebrow and was wearing a gold bracelet on his wrist at the time of the incident. The man was clean shaven.
Vehicle driven is believed to be a red single cab Ford pick-up truck. It may have had an Alberta Licence plate on it with a trailer hitch on the back with a tennis ball.
If you have any information, or saw anyone fitting this description, please contact the local Detachment at 250-499-5511 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).