In Our View: Cheers & Jeers: Crime fighters; tech trouble

Cheers: To crime stoppers. The Clark County Sheriff’s Office recently arrested nine people suspected of retail theft, forgery and other felonies at a Target store in Hazel Dell. Detectives also recovered approximately $1,000 in stolen merchandise, along with weapons and drug paraphernalia, as part of a retail theft operation.

According to FBI statistics, Washington has the nation’s highest rate of retail theft. Those crimes raise prices for consumers, are costly to businesses in terms of merchandise and increased security, and diminish the general sense of well-being in our community. In addition, organized theft often is used to fund criminal enterprises involving weapons and drugs. Last year, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson (now the governor-elect) formed an Organized Retail Crime Unit to help address the issue. Cheers are warranted for efforts to curb small thefts that add up to a big problem.

Jeers: To a computer glitch. The Washington state courts’ computer systems have been down for nearly two weeks, preventing the completion of thousands of firearm sales. Officials say the website and database were taken offline after detecting “unauthorized activity.”

That has delayed background checks that are required for the sale of firearms. Typically, the Washington State Patrol’s Firearms Background Division conducts between 400 and 1,000 checks a day. Even gun-control advocates should recognize that the failure to complete legal sales violates the Second Amendment rights of gun buyers – a problem that must be rectified immediately.

Cheers … and some jeers: To dealing with hunger. In its first six weeks of operation, a community pantry run by Clark County Food Bank has served 2,400 residents. The Craig and Linn Dee Stein Vision Center offers kitchen space, a distribution warehouse and a spacious food pantry, and officials say it has provided approximately 100,000 pounds of food to local residents.

“We want to empower them and say there’s nothing wrong with having a hard time in your life,” one official said. “We want them to have that shopping experience with dignity.” Cheers go to food bank workers and to people who donate items. But the fact that so many people are in need of assistance is worthy of jeers.

Jeers: To theft. Thieves have absconded with supplies used by the Camas-Washougal Pickleball Club at Hathaway Park in Washougal. According to the Camas-Washougal Post-Record, a box containing an automated defibrillator, squeegees, towels, batteries, a first-aid kit, napkins, paper towels, toilet paper, hand sanitizers, measuring tape, a screwdriver, a wrench, lost-and-found items, water bottles, and pickleball balls and paddles went missing in October.

“Anything that we needed,” said the club’s president. “I’m not going to put those rigid boxes back out in the open because, in my opinion, we’re just a target, so we have to find a better security system.”

Cheers: To local farmers. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, has helped secure a $100,000 grant for the Vancouver Farmers Market. The funds come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers Market Promotion Program and combines with several other initiatives to assist local agriculture. Those efforts include introduction of the Farmland Security Act, which would increase oversight of foreign ownership of American farmland.

“By supporting local, multigenerational family farms, we can challenge consolidation in our food system and bring down the costs at grocery stores across Southwest Washington,” Perez said.