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Wednesday, 02 April 2008 |
Letter from Matt Karlgaard
Litchville, N.D.
After reading a letter to the editor earlier this week, I felt that I needed to respond with one of my own. As I read the letter entitled, “PD has wrong priorities,” I could not believe much of what I was reading. I do believe the facts about the happenings on the morning of Monday, March 30, were stated very well, but I would like to counter with a different point of view on the situation.
First off, the Valley City Police Department could not have guessed that a burglary or that many burglaries were going to occur that night. That is something that could happen on any night. It just so happened to be on the same night. Also, I would assume that the PD responds to events as they are reported. This would explain why the police were dealing with the party at 2 a.m. and not patrolling the streets. Next, if the college students would have done as they were asked and cooperated with law enforcement, rather than keep most of the city’s officers occupied while a warrant was issued, the officers would have been able to do their job and return to patrol duty.
I sincerely believe the VCPD had its priorities exactly right. To me the issue comes down to one thing. The VCPD could have continued patrolling the streets and had a small chance of catching a burglary in the act or they could respond to a noise complaint where there were numerous college students, many of them minors, consuming alcohol. To me it’s a matter of keeping intoxicated college students off the road and protecting others versus protecting the business’ property.
I do feel sorry for the businesses who were burglarized, but I would feel much worse if an owner of one of those businesses had a friend or relative killed in an alcohol-related accident.
Personally, I would like to thank the Valley City Police Department and the Barnes County Sheriff’s Department for the work they have been doing to keep the community a safe place to live.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )
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