Defunding Has Consequences

Where are the Police When You Need Them?

I got a phone call last week from a guy who claimed to be from the Publisher’s Clearing House. I seems I had won second prize on the senior division. The prize was 12.2 million dollars. I was all set to go to the bank with my windfall when the caller said I had to buy a claims certificate to claim my money. I told him my mother wouldn’t let me buy anything over the phone, and he hung up. I wonder how many calls he needs to make to find one lonely senior citizen gullible enough to fall for his scam. Believe it or not I got a call the next day form the same guy. This time the prize was only eight million. I told him I was called yesterday when the prize was 12.2 million and didn’t buy a claims certificate then either.

Telephone scams ae crimes in progress, but law enforcement doesn’t seem to care. They don’t care even when the scam is successful and of a significant amount. I have a friend who operates a small business. His company got a call from a scammer posing as an established client. The scammer ordered $40,000 worth of electronic parts and had them shipped to an address in Texas. My friend was fully occupied trying to run his company, so he asked me to look into it. I called the Washington State Attorney General’s Office and was told “For Espanol marke’ uno.” I entered the number one on my phone and got this very nice Spanish speaking lady who told me the Attorney General didn’t investigate ordinary crimes and suggested I call the FBI. The FBI phone was answered by a lady who spoke English but seemed to have a limited vocabulary. I explained my situation and asked if the FBI investigated this sort of crime. She said, “I’m not at liberty to say.” I asked if they had a cybercrimes office in the Seattle Office and she said, “I’m not at liberty to say.” I asked what she was at liberty to say and you can guess what she said. I tried to report the $40,000 scam to the Bellevue police, the Washington State Police, and the Texas Rangers, no one would investigate it. Cybercrimes are out of their jurisdictions.

I have another friend who logged on to her computer to find it locked up with a message indication she had to call to get it unlocked. When she called, the unlocking fee was several hundred dollars. When she paid that, they wanted more. After paying out almost $7000, she called the police. They acted like it was her fault and definitely not their problem. According to TV investigative reports on cybercrimes, police across the nation are underfunded and understaffed. They simply don’t have the resources or expertise to investigate this growing problem. If this is true, and I think it is, will this infection spread to other crimes as well?

The defund the police movement and the loss of respect for our nation’s law enforcement agencies have resulted in a serious shortage of applicants. The Seattle Police force doesn’t have enough qualified applicants to fill existing vacancies. The Chief of Police in Portland says the shortage of qualified recruits is catastrophic. The shortage is nationwide. Every city is feeling the pinch caused by antipolice mentality within their city council, mayors, and US members of Congress. When police or any other public service realize a shortage of qualified recruits, they have two choices. They can either lower the standards for applicants or they can cut services. Police already ignore cybercrimes and are increasingly allowing drug laws to be flaunted. What’s next, white collar crime, racketeering, gangs?

We are on the threshold of anarchy. When we turn our backs on police because of a few bad actors, we endanger the rule of law. When we have no law enforcement, we have no law. We cannot allow that to happen.

Frank Watson is a retired Air force Colonel and long-time resident of Eastern Washington. He has been a free-lance columnist for over 20 years.