GETTING TOUGH ON CRIME

The issue: The recent crime spree

Our view: The city needs to take some leadership and act swiftly to
address this growing problem

We as a community are appalled at the crime happening in our midst
early into this new year. Recall that there was a shooting and brazen
home invasion involving five gunmen claiming to be cops. This was in a
working-class residential neighborhood, and the people with guns were
outside on the street at one point - one person trying to flee the
scene even jumped into some poor soul's window at 4 a.m.

Imagine that for a wake-up call some quiet morning.

Then, we have 23-year-old Reginald Pendelton, who died in police
custody last week, after surviving a shooting at Freeport's Plaza
Hotel in 2006. There are other, less dramatic examples - the many
thefts, burglaries, assaults and other street crimes that don't merit
more than a mention in the police blotter.

Meanwhile, cocaine, the local drug of choice, continues to be an all
too common thread on the streets and on the case call in Stephenson
County Circuit Court.

Whether these recent incidents turn out to be the start of a downward
spiral or an anomaly in a year's worth of crime stats, it's clear that
waiting to act is no longer an option.

The city should rapidly develop and implement an emergency plan to
fight neighborhood crime. In the short term, we need more cops on the
street, and we need leadership from City Hall.

The city must go into the problem neighborhoods and clean them up.
Enforce existing building codes and crackdown on slumlords who profit
from others' misery and get their rent checks from thugs.

Light up these neighborhoods and intersections, put surveillance
cameras at problem corners, and hold regular neighborhood meetings to
encourage neighbors to help.

Given what's gone on in recent weeks, we can't imagine that families
and working people from all over town would not support a special tax
or tax increase to help give the police department the resources it
needs - more officers and equipment are vital and desperately needed.

How much would it take to add 10 cops to the force?

How much for five building inspectors and five child welfare case
workers?

How much to get the garbage out of the yards and out of the
gutters?

It is time we did some honest soul-searching on this problem for a
change. Think of it as a homeland security charge for Freeport. Doing
the same thing will not get us a different result, just more sad headlines.

We could build five Wal-Mart SuperCenters and put up sprawling wind
farms from here to the western horizon, yet if we never feel safe in
our own city, in our own homes, and on our streets and sidewalks, no
one else ever will, either. And those who do come here will be those
who profit from the misery of others.

But this problem of urban crime is not purely economic - at least not
to the majority of us who still have a soul, still care about the
future of this community and the safety of its children. Good, working
people of all age groups, races and economic strata are suffering
every day in Freeport because of the thugs and career-criminals who
have taken over their neighborhoods and our streets.

Criminals, come from Chicago and St. Louis and Milwaukee, and they
aren't here to deliver the mail.

It is time to show them the door.