School Lets Out — And Crime, Vandalism Surges
It’s happening again.
Graffiti vandals struck Sunriver overnight, spraying bike tunnels and private homes and other spots.
It’s a seasonal issue; When school lets out, relatively minor crimes spike.
“We see graffiti, tipping over benches, garbage cans, mailbox damage, things like that,” Bend police Lt. Paul Kansky said Friday.
Old Mill District officials tell us crime triples for them in the summer.
They say kids “dine and dash,” spray graffiti, steal, break planters or windows, loiter, use foul language, and bikes and skateboards weave dangerously in and out traffic.
Marketing Director Noelle Fredland says the root of it is a community and parenting issue.
We caught up with mom Courtney Beaulieu in the Old Mill Friday and she agrees.
“When they get in a group, it’s really hard for them to make the best choices,” Beaulieu said. “So somehow we have to keep instilling it at home. But just dropping them off at the Old Mill, when they’re not ready to make those choices then, is probably not the best choice on the parents’ part.”
This past week, heads of the Old Mill, Downtown Bend Business Association and NorthWest Crossing met to talk strategy, to get more eyes on the street.
A few summers ago, NorthWest Crossing dealt with vandalism, curfew and noise violations at Compass Park, but quickly formed a neighborhood watch and a resident e-mail alert system — and it stopped.
“If something’s happening, we’ll alert people and say by the way, this issue has come up so you’re aware,” says David Ford, general manager of West Bend Property Management, which operates NorthWest Crossing.
Police response to these issues could be changing drastically now with their budget shortfall.
For example, an elderly man with early-stage dementia went missing for four hours Friday morning, and it took virtually every officer on duty to find him.
So if it’s not an in-progress, suspects-on-scene type of issue, businesses may very well not get much of a response if something else is going on.
“At the start of the day, we were operating at what I would say is a minimum level we should to provide service to the community,” Kansky explained. “And once a call like the one this morning occurs, we’re not able to respond to other calls quickly.”
Bend police are working on an online crime reporting website, so small issues can be electronically filed without an officer physically driving over.
And a reminder for parents and teens: According to Bend city code, curfew hours for teens under 18 is 10 p.m.
