In County Executive Aaron Reardon’s State of the County address he claims to have held the line on cuts to the sheriff’s office. He even says that he supports programs such as VINE, Victim Information and Notification Everyday. He supports encouraging retailers to limit access to pseudoephedrine products in order to stem the meth problems that our county has encountered (a program started in the spring of 2004 by the county’s Snohomish County Regional Drug Task Force). He also says that not one deputy was laid off in his 2005 budget.
What he does not tell you is that he has gutted the sheriff’s crime prevention program by letting the last two crime prevention officers go. He has made a proactive crime-fighting program into a reactive program. His only solution is to react to crime after it happens.
A “progressive” crime prevention program would educate the public on how it can protect itself. It would show the public how to protect its homes from burglaries, from having its cars stolen, from having its identity stolen; all without using a gun. It would encourage the public not to be victimized by the criminals in the community.
This county once had a progressive crime prevention program with its crime prevention officers. Apparently, the county executive thinks he can solve our crime problems solely by warehousing them in that big new jail in Everett.
STEVE MOLLER
Snohomish
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