Why You Can't Have Nice Things In Yakima Options

[Coomer]

Recently, there's been a lot in the local news about car theft. A recent high-speed pursuit resulting from the suspect stealing a car ended up killing two innocent people (one of the two injured in that article later died at the hospital) when the suspect crashed into their car at high speed. The thief wasn't hurt too badly, and now faces second degree murder charges.

Yakima already ranks among the top ten cities in the nation with the highest car theft problems (According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Yakima had more than 2,000 cars stolen last year alone,) and there are logical reasons why.

In Yakima, car thieves don't get prison time until their seventh offense! Worst of all, this information was published in our local newspaper. I can just see people reading that and then choosing to steal a car to try to make some quick cash..."I mean, there's no real consequences, so I might as well, right?"

What's even worse is that our city doesn't seem to care about auto theft. A friend of the family recently went on a ride-along with a Yakima Police Department officer. The officer caught and arrested a seventeen-year-old kid who was trying to steal a car. He tried dropping the thief off at four different jails and juvenile detention centers, but all four of them wouldn't house the kid for various reasons, mostly because Yakima needs the jail space for the ridiculously high numbers of murder/assault/rape/drug-trafficking suspects.

So the cop let the kid go. A few hours later, the officer got a call about a car theft and hurried to the call to investigate. It was the same kid trying to steal another car.

Absolutely ludicrous.

That's the only way I can really describe the actions of city officials and police officers in Yakima.

That, combined with the corrupt cops, very high crime rate, and immense drug problems, is why I don't live there anymore, and why my parents are moving once my brother is out of school. It's just ridiculous, and it angers me to no end.

I dunno. Perhaps more innocent people just need to die before the city takes action against car thieves.

[Mynzeyes]

Coomer. It's not the police/officer's fault. It's legislation and law. That officer had nothing to do with the number of offenses required before imprisonment. That, and if a facility does not have enough space, and doesn't have the funding to add said space, then there is nothing left to do but let the lesser offenders go. Crimes against humanity come first, not crimes against property. Taking a car is in NO WAY comperable to taking a life, or taking someone's innocence.

In fact, that was mentioned in your post:

What's even worse is that our city doesn't seem to care about auto theft. A friend of the family recently went on a ride-along with a Yakima Police Department officer. The officer caught and arrested a seventeen-year-old kid who was trying to steal a car. He tried dropping the thief off at four different jails and juvenile detention centers, but all four of them wouldn't house the kid for various reasons, mostly because Yakima needs the jail space for the ridiculously high numbers of murder/assault/rape/drug-trafficking suspects.

Do you want them to not take someone in for one of those offenses, so a 17 year old attempted car-thief can sit in jail for a night, then get out with some type of community service?

I think if anything, it's your priorities, not the city's, that is out of whack. Sure, someone died resulting from a chase resulting from a car theft, and that's tragic. However, I think the ratio of deaths caused by car chases caused by car thefts to deaths caused by murder, rape, and assualt is pretty low.

Life > Property.

It may just be that the property portion affects you personally. I think you would feel a lot different about things if someone you know had been killed or raped. And if they had, and you are still worried about property theft, that's not good.

Sure, something should be done, in the end. But the problem is that everything operates on a degree system, and personal possessions just don't rate very high on the list when compared with other crimes.

Don't think this post is to bash you, or challenge you, or anything like that, I'm just offering a differing opinion to create a dialog here for a discussion.

-John-

[1999GThatch]

Coomer. It's not the police/officer's fault. It's legislation and law. That officer had nothing to do with the number of offenses required before imprisonment. That, and if a facility does not have enough space, and doesn't have the funding to add said space, then there is nothing left to do but let the lesser offenders go. Crimes against humanity come first, not crimes against property. Taking a car is in NO WAY comperable to taking a life, or taking someone's innocence.

I'll agree with what he said. I'm sure the police officer would love to lock the kid up and throw away the key because can you imagine how angry you would be if you let someone go and they were back in? I suggest you write the mayor and talk about your issues. If the citizens of your community paid for more jails and opted for stricter laws this could all be avoided.