Police officers will tell you that from the perspective of the victims, burglary is one of the worst crimes, because of the emotional toll it exacts on top of the loss of personal property.

Somehow it seems even worse when a burglary is committed against a school, a place where kids learn and grow as people under the supervision of teachers and staff.

Who knows what was going through the minds of the youth or adults responsible for breaking into the Decatur County Schools Support Center on Martin Street sometime between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. But what they left behind was felt personally by the school employees who came to the support center Monday morning to find windows and computers broken, offices ransacked and rooms covered in fire extinguisher foam powder.

Some of the school property had to be thrown out; some of it, like the damaged computers, won’t be available to be used by the hundreds of migrant children and other students who will attend summer school.

It’s not an isolated incident; the Bainbridge Aquatic Center has been broken into three times during the past week, with vandalism and petty theft occurring each time.

What has to be done to curtail these crimes?

Only citizens and law enforcement can decide, but it’s time to let those responsible know they will not get away with it.