Juvenile crime statistics are misleading

I recently read the article of Sept. 1, 2014 stating, "Juvenile crime continues to decline in Grant County." Then, on Sept. 4, 2014, I read the article that said, "7 boys arrested in Moses Lake burglaries." Does anyone think that the juvenile crime/problems has really gone down in Grant County? How many times have you seen spray paint of gang signs on buildings? I also noticed in the article that it did not give the source of the statistics used. This makes me question how valid they are?

My questions to Mr. Lee are: Why are the numbers down? Do these statistics include all police contacts with juveniles that are not charged with crimes?

I am voting for Garth Dano. He has dedicated 30 years of his professional life to Grant County. He strives to make the community that he calls home safer. His father, who was also an attorney, showed him how to give back into the community by being instrumental and establishing the Neppel Landing Development. I've seen Garth reach out to others including myself. I think that being a defense lawyer, Garth will know both sides of the spectrum and how to approach the criminal justice problem on a case-by-case basis as well as properly advising the county commissioners.

Marvin Chamberlain

Moses Lake

Editor's note: The Sept. 1 article stated the source of the statistics in the first paragraph as being Prosecutor Angus Lee. Lee's office also provided the Herald with the graph accompanying the article, as shown in the caption directly under the image.