'I don't feel safe': Hayden Island residents frustrated over increasing crime
Portland, Oregon is unsafe by design. Stop showing your white privilege, you raycist! | [KGW] People who live on Hayden Island say the homeless crisis and crime seem to be getting out of hand. They feel crime is rampant and, according to statistics, they're right. Portland Police Bureau data show crime on Hayden Island is the worst it's been in the last five years. Property crimes like theft, burglary and larceny make up the vast majority.
"I don't feel safe," a resident named Judi told KGW. "It didn't used to be like this."
Oftentimes, Hayden Island residents say they see stolen kayaks and boats pulled up next to two abandoned military vessels and an encampment along Jantzen Beach.
"The beach guys prowl around the marinas but they don't steal cars," said resident Howard Johnson. "That's where you've got to define what you're looking at and who might be doing it."
Police say it’s not just the transient population committing crime; opportunists steal and vandalize and they often get away with it.
Interstate 5 running through the island makes it a prime target; people coming from the south in Oregon or the north in Washington are able to quickly hop on and off the island to commit crimes there or escape being caught.
Residents see cars without license plates all over the neighborhood and believe they're stolen and brought to the area to be stripped.
John Seaman is one of many hit by thieves and has security camera videos of people stealing from his porch in the middle of the night. He said he knows others have had items stolen in the middle of the day.
Judi and her family had to track down her son's car after someone stole it from a parking lot. She said after retrieving it alongside Portland coppers, the thieves returned the following day to try stealing it again. Their other cars have been broken into multiple times, with catalytic converters stolen and windows smashed.
Posted by: Fred 2021-08-12 |