Youngstown's Image

[Towntalk]

How do you think the Mayor and Chief of Police would react if the folks say on the North Side got together with all the churches on the North Side and held a gigantic festival for the sole purpose of raising funds for the very thing you suggest?

Lets take that a step further ... the folks on the North and West Side, and this was followed up by the people on the South and East Sides.

That would send a powerful message to City Hall, but would Council get the message?

I'm sure that the individual police officers would be grateful at the show of appreciation for them.

Too often we are quick to bash them, but how often do we show them our support?

Certainly we do when one of them is killed, but what about the rest of the time?

[AllanY2525]

I think that the private sector could also be trying to hold some kind
of fund raising events to raise money for the hiring of additional police
officers for JUST THIS KIND OF THING.

[Towntalk]

I just got done reading an article in the Sunday Telegraph (London England) talking about London's crime problem. Now granted, you could put a dozen Youngstown's in London and not be able to find them, but many of the problems that they have, we also have right here at home.

What was so interesting was the responses from the readers. Some of them were singing the praises of the U.S. when it came down to police presence.

One of the points that was made was the presence of beat cops actually walking a beat.

Now granted that there are parts of town where a policeman would be placing his life on the line walking a beat, but even seeing a police car presence on a regular basis would be reassuring, and would certainly discourage people from committing crimes such as stripping houses.

Why is it so difficult for our city fathers to grasp the idea of beat cops who actually know the folks on his beat by name, and is willing to talk to them about problems in their neighborhood?