Junk vehicles to be removed in Larson community

MOSES LAKE — The Grant County Sheriff’s Office Crime Reduction team will begin to remove junk vehicles from the Larson area this week, according to an announcement from the GCSO. 

“The broken windows theory is the theory — which I believe has been proven more correct than not — that if you have a community and the windows are broken, that just promotes crime and instability,” Grant County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman said. “If you start repairing the broken windows, in this case the broken windows being the vehicles, then we're starting a path to reducing crime in the Larson community.” 

The focus will be on vehicles that have not moved for a long time, vehicles with flat tires, vehicles with extensive damage or vehicles with expired registrations.  

“I don't have a number on the amount of abandoned or broken vehicles,” Foreman said.  
“But anecdotally, when you drive around the Larson community, every street has cars lining them. Some of those vehicles have not moved in a long time because they're not working, or they're unlicensed, or any number of reasons.” 

The first step will be placing orange and white stickers on vehicles. If a vehicle has one of these stickers placed on it, there will be a date listed. If not licensed or removed from the area by the date, the vehicle will be towed.  

“There's just cars all over the place and you have to pull over to the curb in order to allow vehicles going the other way to pass,” Foreman said.  

The GCSO is asking for patience as this will not be a quick process, according to a sheriff’s office media release. Those with questions or concerns can reach out to jball@grantcountywa.gov.