It’s time for citizens to take action

The night out against crime recently was very successful in getting local residents to gather in their neighborhoods in a social atmosphere and reflect on what they can do to make St. Charles a safer parish. Now it is time for action.

It seems that every issue of this newspaper has reports of violence inside the parish. It seems that much of it is caused by the drug trade.

We don’t recall it happening to such an extent in the past. Perhaps Hurricane Katrina has caused it.

We can’t say that drug dealers have left other places to come here because those other areas are having an increase in violence, too. The murder rate has grown in New Orleans and other parishes around and most of it has been generated by the drug trade.

Police have been trying to fight it but they need our help. We need to report any suspicious activity that may indicate a drug trade is going on. We need to alert our friends to also be on the lookout.

We need to make this an almost universal effort in our parish. And if it is, it is almost certain the drug trade will be diminished here.

And so will crime. Which was the reason why we had that night out with our neighbors.