Crime spike tied to juvenile spree

Crime in Sisters spiked dramatically last month.

Captain Tim Edwards of the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office told the Sisters City Council at their May 8 meeting that crime in Sisters increased in April. However, much of the increase can be attributed to a youth crime spree.

Burglaries, thefts and criminal mischief were all up for the month. There were 16 "Burglary IIs" - second -degree burglaries involving a building other than a residence - and 14 of those crimes were solved. They were committed by a local burglary ring consisting of Sisters juveniles.

Ages of the juveniles ranged from 12 to 15 and all have been arrested. All of the merchandise stolen has been recovered, Edwards reported. Juvenile court will decide the fate of the juveniles, based in large part on their past histories.

Edwards said that statistics are often driven by juvenile crime.

"Every time we have a spike in the crime rate in Sisters it's almost always related to unsupervised juveniles," said Edwards.

Captain Edwards believes that the spike in crime is not cause for alarm among residents in general.

"Sisters' crime rate is considerably lower than Redmond or Bend because Sisters doesn't have the big- city issues to deal with," he said.

But at the same time Captain Edwards offered this advice to parents: "I urge parents to know where their children are and who they are hanging out with."

Four Deschutes County Deputies regularly patrol Sisters and one School Resource Officer is stationed at Sisters High School.