Regarding the Thursday letter, “Catching thieves must be first priority”:

I felt compelled to stand behind the writer on his plea for better protection for the few law-abiding citizens left in Snohomish County. I was recently relocated to this area and have had the worst experiences of my life.

As the writer says, the police are more intent on speeders and traffic offenders than attempting to catch the criminals who are robbing everybody blind.

I work in the aircraft industry, which has taken me to different locations in the United States. I have never lived in a community that turns its back on the criminals as they do here in Marysville.

My car was broken into at the Centennial Trail trailhead near Smokey Point. The only reason a Snohomish County deputy showed up after a two-hour wait was to close the gate to the park. He walked over to my busted vehicle to fill out a report as though this was an everyday thing.

My wallet and checkbook were stolen. $4,100 worth of checks later, three unreturned phone calls to the sheriff’s office, as well as a clerk laughing in my face saying that it was my fault for having anything valuable in my car. My wife and I did a little investigating on our own. Turns out three of the stores had surveillance of the offenders, however, the store policies are to release information to the authorities only. After several attempts to get the sheriff’s office to investigate further, we gave up.

No one seems to care here. I can see why the criminals care not to work. It almost makes a person want to throw in their working gloves and live the easy life off from everybody else.

Come on people, let’s make a stand and force the authorities to protect us as they’re supposed to do.

Ron Elsen

Marysville