Mayors’ public safety campaign should seek broader solutions

Published 1:30 am Friday, October 21, 2022

I see The Herald is still publishing articles from our local elected officials, calling for more law and justice and a return to the “good ol’ days when we were more publicly safe” (“We can make cities safer but it will take teamwork,” The Herald, Oct. 16). I also see that the continuing ignorance and misunderstanding of the basic issues involving chemical dependency and mental illness still exist and that the use of fear and half-truths are still the basic toolkit for those attempting to use them to divert our attention from the real root causes of crime in our community.

Such belief in the public’s inability to use reason and common sense gives one the impression that we’re not smart enough to see through all of this misinformation and are unable to understand when we’re being manipulated toward goals that have nothing to do with reality or the actual meaning of “public safety.”

I would propose that a reduction of what appears to be an increase in crime will not occur just by adding more law enforcement, court activity and increased jail and prison confinement; and that such increases will will “not” act as a deterrent to those who will commit crimes anyway; nor will they provide a “uniform and/or black robe” deterrent to those living with real chemical dependencies or serious mental illness.

We need more systems and programs made available, upfront, to address root causes of what we incorrectly identify as “public safety issues”; and more prevention, intervention and diversion from the law, justice and corrections continuum.

Jim Bloss

Monroe