HELP POLICE STEM VIOLENCE

The recent rash of violence in peninsular Charleston reinforces the need
for improved cooperation between community residents and law enforcement.
And cooperation against crime means reporting criminal activity - including
drug dealing - to the police.

City of Charleston Police Chief Reuben Greenberg, Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.
and five City Council members re-iterated that indisputable point Thursday.
Chief Greenberg vowed to use "every means that the United States Supreme
Court gives us ... to make our streets safer."

That mission, however, will be hindered if residents don't help the
authorities put drug dealers out of business. The scourge of illegal drugs
isn't limited to addiction. Rival dealers and gangs intimidate entire
neighborhoods while waging bloody turf battles that inflict casualties not
just upon criminals, but upon innocent bystanders - including children.

The authorities seemed to be making significant progress in the ongoing
effort to eradicate this vicious criminal cycle earlier this year with
"Operation Mayday." Local, state and federal law enforcement officials made
44 arrests, and for an encouraging time, the dealers appeared to be on the run.

But nearly eight months later, slowly yet surely, many drug dealers - some
old, some new - have crept back into the daily life of the community.

Many residents, wrongly deeming resistance to the drug menace futile, have
chosen not to help the police by reporting this illegal activity. And in
the last five weeks, several shootings and a stabbing have left six people
dead and others wounded, prompting Thursday's call for community action.

Not all of those incidents were demonstrably drug-related, and they have
crossed the boundaries of traditionally high-crime neighborhoods. But rises
in illegal-drug commerce tend to boost violent-crime rates throughout any city.

City Councilman Wendell Gilliard, issued a blunt challenge to all
Charlestonians: "The plea is out. It's been proven over and over again.
When the neighborhood makes up its mind to get involved with law
enforcement, we can make a difference."

Mayor Riley echoed that theme in succinct terms: "In the final analysis, a
community will have the level of lawlessness that it will allow."

Charleston must not allow thugs to make this city unsafe. Law-abiding
citizens - the vast majority of every community in this city - must assist
the authorities in the fight against crime.