[zephyr]

[Anne Elk]

The trailhead security proposal that jlowder posted contains many elements of the suggestions I made above (no emoticon for patting myself on the back). He's done an admirable job collating statistics. The only part of his plan that I don't like is "advertising" at the TH that monitors are present. What's the point? You want to catch the perps. As it is, they're obviously not working over vehicles if anyone is in the parking lot. As mentioned previously, I suspect a small # of people are responsible for most of these crimes - I've read where this is often the case in urban areas too;. The goal should be to catch them. A go-fund-me for trail cam purchase is a great idea. Some representatives of the hiking community should approach LE with a proposal to take a multi-prong approach for monitoring and staking out the most likely TH for catching a crime in progress, based on the collected statistics. But I think 2 cams are needed: one that can capture a wide view of the lot and another surreptitiously placed somewhere on the road that could capture license plate numbers.

[zephyr]

[Seattle_Wayne]

[uww]

I don't think there are standardized statistics on trailhead break-ins, but while obviously they occur anywhere and everywhere, I would think we are leading the pack as far as the severity of the problem. I'm basing that on the property crime rate in general- which does have statistics collected throughout the country. It's a much harder road, but changing the cultural tolerance and normalization of these types of crimes goes a lot further than stakeouts and game cameras.

[Ski]

[Anne Elk]

[Ski]

[altasnob]

[Waterman]

Incarnation doesn't work without rehabilitation. European countries invest in education and building skills to make a inmate a productive member of society. Our system does nothing like this as it cost more money. Something the privatized system would never spend money on.

[altasnob]

You can get your GED and take community college courses and trade courses while you are in Washington prisons. Like drug treatment, these things help some people, but not all. To solve our crime (and trail head break ins) problems, we need a complete and radical overall of our entire society, starting from birth. Bad habits that get ingrained from birth are hard to break. If we change now, things might improve by the next generation in thirty years.

[Chief Joseph]

Many smart people have dogs and not kids, while people with poor genetics and prone to addition breed like rabbits, the problem is not going to go away. I have avoided problems so far by driving an old vehicle, no valuables inside, unlocked and windows down....but the single best way to avoid this issue is to go at least 5 miles down a very rough road where not many people go. But how about this...at very busy and crowded TH's, have vendors, taco trucks, sell drinks, etc? It would be awesome to go on a hard hike and return to the TH and have a burger and brew waiting for you, especially after a multi-day trip.

[kiliki]

Maybe someone could get Gregory Scruggs of the Seattle Times interested. I thought he did a nice job keeping up on the issues at Stevens Pass ski area, with multiple articles and even spending a day with the GM, and trailhead break ins, I think, are of interest to a broader group. He could talk to LE, accumulate stats, etc.

[Anne Elk]

[Ski]