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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Vehicle break-in at Riverside State Park not unusual

A thief broke into this vehicle at the Riverside State Park Bowl & Pitcher Overlook parking area on April 15, 2015. (Courtesy)
A thief broke into this vehicle at the Riverside State Park Bowl & Pitcher Overlook parking area on April 15, 2015. (Courtesy)

PUBLIC LANDS -- Climber-cyclists Eric Barrett has a first-person reason for repeating the warning state park rangers preach to visitors  leaving their vehicles in any park or Centennial Trail trailhead.

Hey Riverside State Park users, I had my car broken into at Bowl & Pitcher Overlook parking lot on Wednesday night.

Keep your stuff out of sight and call in any suspicious looking vehicles!

Chris Guidotti, Riverside State Park manager, said he didn't have good statistics on vehicle break-ins around the park, since most of the vehicle prowls are reported to Crime Check and not park staff. 

"I do know that vehicle prowls are a huge problem in the Spokane Area in general and definitely at our trailheads as well," he said.

"We have pulled Crime Check stats in the past and it does show a significant problem in our area.  It is definitely impacting our visitors and we will be investing resources in an effort to reduce the problem."



Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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