White van allegedly following young women in Surrey, social media post says
A social media post is warning young women in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood to be on high alert, after several have come forward claiming they’ve been followed.
Gurpreet Kaur Parmar, founder of the Kaur Movement which provides resources and supports for victims of domestic and sexual abuse, said received four messages from women earlier this month, prompting her to put out the alert.
The post said women under 25 have been followed by two to four men in white vans near the Tamaanawis and Panorama area.
After she published her post, more women came forward.
“It was very concerning,” Parmar told CTV News.
She said she encouraged the women to report the incidents to police but they were hesitant because they felt like officers could not do much to help since they didn’t get a licence plate or they felt like it would be time-consuming to file a report.
“It should still be reported and it's really sad to see that the women are reaching out to me before they're reaching out to the cops,” Parmar said.
SFU criminology professor Rob Gordon said it is important to report to police because each snippet of information can be helpful.
“Any good police work -- community police work in particular – involves the accumulation of information. Some of it is useful, apparently. Some of it is not useful, apparently. But they're all bits of information, which a crime analyst can piece together and produce a very useful picture,” Gordon explained.
Surrey RCMP are also asking the women to reach out to officers and so far, they said one person has done so.
“We received information of a possible incident. However, details were very limited and investigators are working on obtaining more details,” said Const. Gurvinder Ghag.
“As we've seen in the past, social media posts can create fear. And it's difficult for us to determine the legitimacy of these posts. So unless people actually report to police, it's hard for us to determine the legitimacy of these posts,” she said.
Parmar has also set up a team of male volunteers in the neighbourhood who will be available around the clock if anyone feels unsafe.
“They're scared to call the cops. So if they're reaching out to us, we have people that would actually go to that spot right away…it's a safe way of protecting our own and it's connecting with the Sikh community,” Parmar said.
She said her volunteers would not get out of the vehicle or engage with the suspects, but rather, gather evidence that police may find useful.
Gordon believes situations can quickly escalate and the volunteers would put themselves in danger or accost someone who’s innocent.
“Don't get caught up in the romance of running around in the community, protecting people from what may well turn out to be phantoms,” he said.
“You can go out as citizens patrol under police supervision, that's a far better way of proceeding than just simply running around the streets, as I say, behaving like a bunch of cowboys because that's going to get you into trouble,” he explained.
Parmar said she does encourage the women to contact police first and her goal is to warn others to be vigilant.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.