Letter #2: Policing Roswell

In March 2007 my local Roswell paper, the Beacon, published an op-ed piece that included a comment about how Roswell has low crime numbers because of its government. I wrote a response, which was published the next week.

Here are links to the originals:

* Original Article: p. 33 of http://beaconcast.com/downloads/20070703_2
* My Response: p. 35 of http://beaconcast.com/downloads/20070703_3

Below is my letter.

Caveat: I certainly recognize that police officers act as effective deterrents before crimes are committed. I still take exception to support of the notion that more government is the solution to society's problems.

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Contrary to Joseph Davis’ assertion, “most of the credit” for Roswell being named the 18th safest city in the United States does not go to the city government. Leave it to a liberal to assert that the reason we have a safe community is because of the government.

The reason that Roswell is safe is that its citizens are decent, law-abiding folks who break the law less frequently than those in most other comparably-sized towns. Police officers have the unenviable yet important job of dealing with criminals and predators after they have offended; most of the credit for the lack of criminal behavior in the first place, however, goes to good old fashioned family values.