Crime and Law Enforcement

Originally published by James Broadwater at http://www.onlinebyram.com on Oct. 2, 2006.

There is a direct correlation between crime and whether all the laws are enforced.

In the last three years, Mazzio's Pizza, MacAllister's Deli, and Portabella's have been robbed. Entire neighborhoods have been burglarized. At The Reserve of Byram Apartments, four vehicles have been stolen (in one night), and one apartment has been broken into. An off-duty police officer working as a security guard at what was then Winn-Dixie (now Vowell's Marketplace) was assaulted by a thug with a baseball bat. Etc. You get the picture.

Our Hinds County Sheriff's Office tries to locate and arrest these people, but you rarely ever see them stopping people for speeding, tailgating, cutting people off in traffic, wreckless driving, or running stop signs or red lights, and you NEVER see them arresting people for breaking the state law against disturbing the peace.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was right when he implemented a policy of enforcing all the laws, not just some of them. He found that when the officers under his command arrested people for misdemeanors, they often found that those same people were wanted for more serious crimes. That's one thing from New York City that I wouldn't mind importing to Mississippi.