The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

There is an epidemic going on around us. Over the past month I have heard from strangers and friends about being the victims of crimes. As a matter of fact, the past few years in the Coulee have seen theft and burglary go up, with the theft of safes, propane tanks, HVAC units and smaller stuff.

Recently, homes have been broken into, not just in our area but in Wilbur, Almira and Coulee City and homes in between. Even a car, stolen from the Emergency Services Building in Nespelem, was taken from someone who was working to keep us all safe. Side note: Stealing from people who have dedicated their lives to helping others is cowardly, and I hope the person who stole this car did not have an emergency of their own while joy riding in the stolen car of the person that would eventually come to help you or your family. As Daffy Duck would say, “Despicable!”

This once was a place where you could leave your home unlocked and cars unattended, a place considered a pretty safe place to live, but we now must safeguard our possessions and lock them up. The petty thieves were just targeting the easy items lying around our homes, but now it seems they are getting bolder and entering residences and stealing not only items like guns and jewelry but our self confidence in safety as well.

The cause of the recent increase in crime cannot be answered by just pointing to one issue and calling it the blame. Drug use is up in the area, as is the number of unfamiliar visitors seeming to be walking our streets on a daily basis. I, for one, used to be able to recognize every resident of our area, but new people have moved in around us and it is hard to recognize the difference between, community members, tourists and those looking for an easy score. Meth has infested our community along with the other hardcore drugs. Those users, as we have seen on the nightly news, steal copper and other metals, plus other household or easy-sell items to make a quick buck. We can also watch nightly the armed crimes of robbery that occur more and more. I do not want to see it get that bad here, and I know you don’t either.

So we need to become more diligent as community members. Not only do we need to start locking up our own stuff but we need to become aware of our neighbors property, and if we see something we don’t think is right we need to call someone, either the neighbor or the police. I know what you’re saying now: Coulee Dam’s police force is undermanned, Electric City is trying to start their own and Grand Coulee seems to not want to help either one. But we cannot let that stop us.

We all love this community; some have moved here just to raise their kids in a safe environment. Yes, we may have our issues but we cannot let thugs and cowards who steal from us whenever they want dictate the way we want to raise our children. We must also drive out the drug users and those types of members of society. To do those two things, we must support our local police no matter what it looks like or how we feel about them. We still must call to report suspicious behavior and activity. We must take our communities back. We must also open our eyes and get involved, in all aspects of community.

There are kids out there right now who do not feel safe in their own homes. They live among us — friends and classmates. That in itself is a tragedy. Keep watch, Coulee Country. Let’s stop these thieves and community abusers. Let’s make our streets safe for our kids again.