Editorial: What is going on?

Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005 | 8:56 a.m.

Five years ago thieves broke into three Clark County School District bus yards and stole 320 two-way radios used by bus drivers. Twice last year, in July and September, thieves again hit district bus yards, making off with 327 radios. And this past weekend, thieves broke into the district's bus yard on Arville Street, netting 181 radios. The total replacement cost for all the stolen radios exceeds $500,000.

The recurrence of radio thefts from district bus yards is enough to make us ask: "What the heck is going on?!" After the first theft we would have thought a foolproof security plan would have been put in place. After the second theft, surely, absolutely, we would have thought the holes in the first "foolproof" plan would have been plugged. After the third and fourth thefts, we're at a loss over what to think.

All we can say is that district administrators and school police had better figure out how to stop these thefts. And not just for the money. Frank Giordano, head of vehicle maintenance for the district, told the Sun, "With these radios you can build a network where you can easily have a large number of vehicles in communication with each other and a central dispatcher." It's troublesome to think of how these radios, in the wrong hands, could be put to use.