Plainfield is lucky to have excellent police officers. They work hard fighting drug related crime and more recently have made significant inroads into our gang problem. We will have to be persistent in this fight. We will have to fight on many fronts and use our resources wisely. Are we doing that now? I think not.
If our police officers are working hard, isn't that enough. Not if they are deployed only in crime hotspots. We need a balanced deployment, one that focuses on quality of life enforcement issues. We need increased police visibility in all our residential neighborhoods and our shopping districts. If all we do is fight the perpetrators, we will never see a significant drop in crime. I am talking about getting at root causes of crime, of the "broken windows" view of community revitalization.
We have two problems: crime and the public perception of crime. If you look at crime statistics, you will see that our downtown is really a safe place to shop. Unfortunately, many people have an image of downtown that keeps them away. We have recently added some police officers to this area and they will be deployed so that they are highly visible and not just cruising in vehicles. We need a lot more of this kind of deployment.
In my next blog, I will be more specific about my ideas for improved public safety.
You can respond with you ideas to corys37@aol.com
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