Public Safety Requires Public Participation

How many shootings were there in your community this past week? How many injuries? How many deaths? How much longer will we as residents in Massachusetts, in the country as a whole, continue to tolerate this loss in values, this basic insanity?

I know how it feels to live in fear for my life and that was in a comfortable country estate, ring on third finger, left hand. But no one could help me until I broke the silence, stopped the cover-up lies and told the truth. The good news is I don't live there any more, I am free!

Let's not sit around and point fingers of blame at police departments for not solving the cases when those who can shed light, those who can identify who is doing the shooting continue to sit in silence...and yes, in fear. The government - local or state - cannot "fix this." We - those of us in the neighborhood - need to come together and speak up. Each neighborhood, city and town in this state needs to take a stand, "Not in our community!"

Recovering our communities will not happen overnight. In Taunton, we began our "peaceful revolution" a year ago. We have made substantial progress, we now have a teen center to offer a safe haven for our teens to be off the streets! But we have a long way to go to have our city safe, healthy and well in all areas of living.

Go to your police and ask what you can do to help. If you have Neighborhood Watch meetings, participate. If you don't, create them. If you can, mentor a young person, volunteer...Organize, mobilize, revolutionize (peacefully, of course)...