Fee used to grow green
Citizens can stop crime Youngwood and any other community’s vandalism problem should not become a partisan dispute.
It is everybody’s problem, and everybody must become aware as to why vandalism is endemic. It’s like a disease and it must be cured, not just tolerated either by the public with or without a police department. Even a competent Neighborhood Watch will not provide the solution without a cooperative citizenry.
The key to vandalism resolution is a willingness to testify. These juvenile terrorists realize that fear and their age protects them. Their names will not be revealed unless the citizenry will stand up to them in court.
The police department is merely another target for the vandals. They love to play hide and seek with the lone policeman on duty.
They don’t have that advantage with the state police. And when the state police do name the culprits to the abused household, then “the fear of retribution” protects them.
Major crimes such as the Cyber Depot in the business district is an event which a police department is not expected to prevent. That requires the expertise of the state police with its ability to follow up beyond the borough line and its crime laboratory.
It would be worth 10 or 20 mills if a police department held the solution. There isn’t a police department in the county that has controlled vandalism in its realm without the full support of its citizenry.
The Neighborhood Watch, willing to testify in support of the state police, remains as the best way to control vandalism; and without the additional expense.
Al Hopfer
Greensburg