Thursday, April 11, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
The problem is that crimes are not being solved. What standards of conduct and job performance are being applied? If those assigned as detectives are not solving crimes (and they obviously are not), what good is it to get more of the same?
Our house was broken into last year. The collection of a lifetime of memorabilia and valuables disappeared, never to be replaced. The investigators said it probably was teenagers -- most likely girls. But they said that, under current law, the kids are set free even before they can write the reports of the case.
Our state senator bragged about a new law, tightening the handling of juveniles, but as far as I can tell, it simply downgraded housebreaking and burglary from a crime to a misdemeanor, thus taking the pressure off the police to solve the lesser offenses.
How about my house? Is it no longer my castle? If I give up my right to shoot or otherwise physically punish those who enter without my permission, when do the police start carrying out their side of the bargain and apprehend the offenders?
Lorrin Peterson
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