While it’s wonderful to hear that the Island has seen a slight decline in assaults and other serious crimes in the last year, a contrasting yet unsurprising crime statistic is disheartening: “Quality of life” crimes on Vashon have seen a 20 percent spike since 2007.

Vandalism has become a household word in the past few months, as public buildings were defaced, mailboxes were crushed beneath bats for weeks on end and even the vulnerabilities of the Island’s municipal airport were exposed in the dark of night.

Last month, a couple of break-ins — and though the police may not classify them as “serious,” most Islanders certainly did — at St. John Vianney Catholic Church and the Havurat Ee Shalom rocked the community, reminding us that even the most sacred of places are not off limits to those who wish to wreak havoc.

A few optimistic Islanders have blamed the panoply of criminal acts on just a few disgruntled youths, but who’s to say their age, numbers or even motivation? One fact remains — Vashon needs to clean up its act.

Rewards were offered, for the vandalism at the Vashon Airport, for the Harbor School bus tire-slashing, and for the string of mailbox bashings, but no one stepped forward to collect any of the three.

The identities of those who gleefully played “mailbox baseball” this spring are well known in Vashon’s teen set. No one has turned the drive-by batters in, perhaps for fear of retribution or loyalty to the vandals.

But all this bad behavior may come back and bite, not only those who commit the acts, but the entire community. At KVI Beach, one of the Island’s most popular beaches, both neighbors and the communications company that owns the beach — yes, it’s private — are getting fed up with the trash left at the beach every night.

Small groups of Islanders often bring their cases of beer to the beach, drink them under the stars and leave their messes behind. Instead, it’s a considerate neighbor or a Fisher Communications employee who has to clean up the mess of the thirsty nighttime beachlover who couldn’t be troubled to pack out what he packed in — illegally, by the way, since alcohol isn’t allowed on any of Vashon’s beaches.

So, with a teaspoon of good news, comes a case of bad. While assaults are down, vandalism, theft and trash is up, up, up. And with only two sheriffs on the Island at a time, it may be up to us to patrol our own beaches and keep our porch lights burning to stave off the petty criminals.