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Few things are as confounding to me as vandalism.
Don’t get me wrong — I don’t think stealing is a good idea either, but at least the thief has something after the deed. But vandalism? Nothing but a moment of some kind and misery left behind.
One of my favorite childhood memories was my folks taking us to look at all the Christmas lights. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to look far — just down the road on Jackson Highway at a neighborhood called Santa Claus Lane. For almost a mile, all the neighbors went all out to decorate the area for anyone to enjoy.
Later, as a deputy, I can’t count the times I went to a burglary call, only later to discover the thief had taken the stolen items and dumped them into the river somewhere. It just caused senseless pain and aggravation.
So when I read the news about the vandals damaging the very nice Christmas display at Fort Borst Park to the tune of approximately $30,000, I was reminded that there remain selfish fools trying to steal joy from others. Not to mention the beneficiaries of the display, nonprofits and food banks.
I hope they catch those responsible and they can explain the joy of damaging something as nice as a community display. But even if they do, and even if those responsible explain it, it won’t make any sense to most of us.
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The whole debate and frankly sudden interest in the tool known as the Flock Safety camera system, which I know very little about, was somewhat surprising.
It seems like it hit the radar when the data was used by federal law enforcement somewhere, I believe, in the investigation of illegal immigration. This isn’t about illegal immigration. That topic gets plenty of coverage.
Rather, this is about expectations of privacy. In public, you really don’t have any.
I looked at some images posted on a website and all I could really see was the license plate and kind of car. But they were on a public roadway with other cars, which didn’t seem very private to me, if privacy really is the issue. And after a crime, isn’t the expectation to try and catch the crook using available tools?
Generally, people complain the police aren’t doing enough to catch criminals, so it seems counter to that sentiment to be upset when this Flock tool can help do that.
I sometimes drive a truck, and believe me, there are a lot of people on the highway in cars who should be concerned about privacy but clearly aren’t. So far, I haven’t seen any Flock images like that. But if there were some, and the person in a car was doing something weird or disgusting, in broad daylight, where is there an expectation people can’t see what’s happening? Privacy doesn’t seem to be high on their list of concerns.
Law enforcement has always shared information of one kind or another, and it’s only recently become an issue because of immigration politics.
In the online Chronicle story from Dec. 1, I thought the Centralia Police Chief Andy Caldwell gave a good presentation as reported on the value of the system they have. He cited types of cases where they are very useful, and a specific case which was solved with this technology.
He also pointed out some of the challenges — like records requests that can be difficult but believed worth the effort.
We had similar challenges when digital cameras came out and replaced the trusty 35mm with actual film we’d used forever. The concerns were different, but they were valid, and we had to work through them. And we did.
I don’t know how many cameras they have around the city, but I can bet that the number of cameras on buildings privately owned far exceeds that. If you watch the news at all, there are almost nightly images of a suspect being sought from one of those public cameras somewhere. Or doorbell cameras in homes, body cameras, dash cameras and all the rest.
If the concern is privacy in public spaces, that ship sailed long ago.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.
