Growing up in Whitehall in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s the prevalent crime was drunk driving, teen drug use and petty stuff like shoplifting, etc. Occasionally a bigger crime came through like the man who bombed JC Pennys and Zayres in 1970. Otherwise, it wasn’t like it is today with an influx or visitation by those who would commit larger scale crimes. I heard my first ever gunshots here in Whitehall in the latter 90’s and knew things were changing for the worse. Most everyone who lives here or has been here for more than two decades knows this. It is up to the citizens then and the serving Mayoral administration to take action against this.

I believe Whitehall’s # 1 problem is crime. It supersedes all else. Unless it is brought under control everything else is threatened and, at least immediately, less important.

There are two components to crime fighting; police and citizen involvement. Let’s start with the police.

Police. They of course have the manpower and the arsenal and protective gear to fight crime at a different level than the resident on the block. I think the Whitehall Police do a terrific job in their roles. I ‘m truly thankful that Whitehall is its own city and that it has its own police force, able to respond more quickly to situations than the larger City of Columbus might be able were we part of a larger whole. This enables Whitehall to send a message to miscreants and felons that they and their activities are not and will not be tolerated in Whitehall. Our police force handles that superbly. That is certainly one way we keep Whitehall safe and secure. Too though, staffing levels are important in that fight, the manpower needed and required to wage that defense. Unfortunately, in the recent past and currently, we are several officers low and that causes increased concern in regard to our #1 problem. Officers are currently working way too much trying to fill the gaps left by the loss or lack of appropriate staff levels. Chief Zitzke and Mayor Maggard explained to Council that it takes a year, or nearly so, for an applicant to go from the start of the process to being an officer on the streets. There were a couple officers retiring and one applicant made it so far but then didn’t work out in the end which has left a shortfall in staffing with the current officers left picking up the gap, to increased stress levels and the detriment of their families. I say that if you want to tackle the #1 problem in a city, you do not do it with rhetoric but with actualization. Over a year ago, during the Mayor’s ‘State of the City’ speech, in which she made herself look forceful using ‘tough’ language, she declared how she was intolerant of crime and drugs here in Whitehall. It’s my assertion that Mayor Maggard has dropped that ball and put this city at a greater risk of sliding further into crime, leaving us more vulnerable than we should have been right now, particularly when we are trying to gain the upper hand in this problem. It is no coincidence then that the Fraternal Order of Police chose not to endorse her for a second term. Its clear and as simple as that.

The other part of the problem in the city’s half measures in fighting its # 1 problem is two-fold. Firstly, while crime increases, instead of using maximum manpower to fight this overarching scourge, they instead use tax dollar-funded manpower to focus on non-crimes which make criminals of regular citizens, harassing them while true crime surrounds them. Secondly, they have increased the staffing for nonessential personnel so as to compete and stay equal to communities like Reynoldsburg and Gahanna that aren’t facing and dealing with the crime situation as we are. Instead of erring on the side of safety and crimefighting, they’re buying brand new trucks for the code enforcement ‘officer’, installing health centers for city employees and hiring ‘Community Affairs Coordinators’, among others, as well giving them salaries and raises all around in the face of a shortage of manpower in the fight against the true danger to Whitehall’s downfall. Some may argue that while crime is being fought we need to keep a semblance of well-being to show the citizens and the outside world that we are not down for the count. While that is laudable and understandable and may entice people to move here with code enforcement-scrubbed properties, once they do get here and hear a couple rounds of gunshots fired, they might regret their decision and alert others to the true situation that exists here. Nice landscaping and petunias in the window box look nice but they won’t stop an errant bullet from entering your home or into your body. While the city wastes vital tax resources to criminalize Mrs. Jones for the couch on her front porch, ‘Jimmy .32′ is shootin’ someone down at the pool hall. All of the money they spend on these superficial pusuits could be spent on more officers and, instead of foolishly allowing staffing levels to reach such a dangerous low, they should have had their act together to begin with, knowing who was retiring, how long it took a recruit to make it onto the streets as an officer and staffing not just to capacity but using the extra money they spent on nonessential positions to hire a few extra officers to help fight this scourge until its either wiped out or brought under control. First things first. Once that is a reality then we can focus on other things such as a government that responds organically to the actual character and lives of the citizens it has instead of bending those citizens inorganically to act as something they’re not for the desires and wills of its overseer government. (more on that in another post)

Citizen involvement. Growing up here in Whitehall, and I know in other communities, informing the authorities about a person or situation is tantamount to ‘snitching’ or ‘narc-ing’, as it was characterized in my day, and while I encourage restraint and human sense in watching the street, sometimes the eyes on the street are the authorities (and the community’s) first line of defense in the safety and security of the neighborhoods. In the groundbreaking book ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’ by Jane Jacobs https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30833.The_Death_and_Life_of_Great_American_Cities

she talks at length about what makes a neighborhood’s streets safe;

“…the public peace—the sidewalk and street peace—is not kept primarily by the police, necessary as police are. It is kept primarily by an intricate, almost unconscious, network of voluntary controls and standards among the people themselves, and enforced by the people themselves. … there must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street. The buildings on a street equipped to handle strangers and to insure the safety of both residents and strangers, must be oriented to the street. They cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind.

And…, the sidewalk must have users on it fairly continuously, both to add to the number of effective eyes on the street and to induce the people in buildings along the street to watch the sidewalks in sufficient numbers. Nobody enjoys sitting on a stoop or looking out a window at an empty street. Almost nobody does such a thing. Large numbers of people entertain themselves, off and on, by watching street activity.”

While casual policing of the street and neighborhoods can and should be done by the residents themselves (kids acting up, people littering, etc) if the situation gets a little heavier then at least the eyes on the street have spied the offense and calling the authorities is certainly merited. On my street, Doney, I believe stringently in this rule. From Robinwood Avenue to Rita Court my eyes are on the street. It is mine and my neighbors street and the safety or danger of it is in our hands. When kids are out of hand or there is littering or suspicious behavior, I either speak to the person(s) myself or can call the police it its so warranted. Either way, on that half block of Doney Street, I have asserted myself with this kind of attitude towards community responsibility to troublesome passerby that acting up and causing trouble is not welcome or tolerated. Now imagine what kind of effect on Whitehall’s whole these sort of actions would have if everyone took Jane Jacobs sage teachings to heart. It would make an enormous impact.

A slightly different cousin of these teachings is one I’ve heard discussed and utilized here in Whitehall; the neighborhood Block Watch. Councilperson Karen Conison is well known for and rightly lauded for her work in this area and while I too commend her and others for their work, per Jane Jacob’s observations, I have to point out the one deficiency in this measure of citizen policing and that is; when citizens are out on the street patrolling in a Block Watch, there may well be no crimes happening when they’re out or, if anyone is up to no good, they might easily spot the block watch and change their behavior to pretend they’re not up to no good. So too, the block watch patrol is not on the streets 24/7, whereas having all citizens taking responsibility in watching their block in the fashion as described above, not only is every few feet covered but the block is watched over with alert eyes and ears for the entire 24/7. This is absolutely essential in the fight to push back crime’s encroachment and certainly the first response in concert with the police, and while the block watch is one tool in this fight it is really the responsibility of every citizen to do their part individually to keep our streets safe and secure.

In addition, it is my belief when the dynamics of communities are changing that it is up to the citizens themselves to defend their way of life and their neighborhoods. The character of people who move onto your street is always an active event to the neighborhood, never a passive one. (this is also why character matters) If crime is encroaching, if people are moving in who do not cop to the standards your neighborhood has set, then I believe the citizens themselves, not the government, have an obligation to defend the sanctity of their neighborhoods, particularly in a neighborhood with low transience. If the neighborhood enjoys a certain level of decency and responsibility and respect and lack of crime amongst themselves, then those neighborhood traits should be respected and copped to by those who would put down their influence and mark on the neighborhood they move into. It only makes sense then that the people who already live in a place and who have already set the tone should have the right to maintain it, specifically and most importantly, crime-free.

I always believed the old notion that if a neighborhood doesn’t fit oneself, in any number of ways (too old, too young, too many children, too quiet, etc.) then one is free to find a like-neighborhood where they will fit in. Here on Doney, there have been several people move into rentals here who didn’t fit in at all, either with drug dealing or out of control miscreant kids or drunken curse-laden late-night scream-fests, and with all of them I monitored and let them know, personally or via a police cruiser when appropriate, the wrongness of their actions and behavior. This, in its fashion, made them feel unwelcome (or at least their behavior) and that this part of Doney was not their home if that was the way they were going to act, and rightfully so. This part of Doney Street is generally middle-aged, quieter folks who keep things nice. Now, if I or no one else ever did anything to let people know their behavior is irresponsible or unwelcome to the neighborhood then it says it is welcome and before you know it, Mr. Smith has now moved out and two more irresponsible, disrespectful people have moved in. This is how good neighborhoods decline in a community; because the community itself does not police and defend its neighborhoods strongly enough, if at all, from being hijacked by miscreants and inappropriate/criminal behavior. After all, if criminality and bad behavior are active in my community, then my reactions to that, as a good citizen defending my neighborhood, should be also. I maintain that the very state Whitehall is in now with more crime encroaching (which welcomes even more crime) is as a direct result of those who did live here that either did not defend Whitehall’s standards and/or just simply left. As Whitehall stands now, in part, is as a direct result of former residents abandonment of this principal. It is a betrayal to Whitehall itself. Do not tell me you love Whitehall but then passively allow its virtual murder.