Community is Path to Crime Prevention

Creating a tightly woven community is the way to reducing crime according to Whitesboro Police Chief Scott Taylor. “To have a stronger town we need to have a strong community,” said Taylor. Taylor, who has been police chief for a year and worked for the department for several years, advocates community as the way to reduce and prevent crime.

“I'd like to get some programs down the road set up -- some community awareness and crime prevention groups, things like that -- have some organization,” said Taylor. “[But] we can’t do it all – the police department or even the city.”

The process of developing a strong community will not be a short process, but it will be effective. “First we've got to start by informing, letting people know what's going on,” said Taylor. “If they're not aware, they can't do anything to prevent it, but if we make our community aware, we start to get information.”

There are many different ways to inform people. “I encourage anyone to ask me to talk to their groups,” said Taylor. Community awareness meetings are also an effective way of communicating to residents. For example, Texoma Promise, a drug awareness program, has been very effective.

Another very effective program is National Night Out. The police department hosts this program every year and it will be in October on a Saturday night this year. “It’s to have the citizens come out and meet the police. It’s just a community gathering where we can get together and meet each other,” said Taylor. “It’s a symbolic stand against crime.”

Community can definitely be an effective preventative measure to keep crime from increasing and even decreasing crime. “You've got 7 officers working versus [4,000 people] always watching to make sure someone doesn't step out of line,” said Taylor.

Crime can quickly become a serious problem without a strong community. “We've got Gainesville 15 miles away. They've got gangs, shootings, and they're trying to address them. But if we do what we're supposed to do here, we can keep them from coming,” said Taylor.

Crime in Whitesboro is also showing an upward trend. “I can see a trend on things getting worse. Is it dramatically? No. Do we have drug problems? Yes. Do we have other problems? Yes. Do we have it to the extent of some of the other city? No. Can we? Yes,” said Taylor.

The main increase seems to be in juvenile crime. “A lot of kids now don't have any supervision,” said Taylor. A stronger community will help reduce this it will also help prevent it by encouraging constructive behavior. “If you don't accept negative behavior than you're promoting positive behavior,” said Taylor.

Children and teens are the place to start in proactive crime prevention. “[W]hat we want to try to prevent is our kids now from becoming problems,” said Taylor. “I would like to see a place where a kid can go and there is an adult there for the kids.” Taylor suggested that churches maybe the best-equipped organizations to start programs like this one.

Taylor also said parents need to be more involved in their children’s lives. “Something's going to have to happen, maybe we make the parents accountable,” said Taylor. And parent accountability may be something that the police department takes steps toward over the coming years.

The path to a safer community will likely be a long path, but it is a worthwhile one and it can only be traveled by a strong community. “I'm a big believer in crime prevention and that’s what this is. Making a community aware -- making a stronger community, that’s crime prevention,” said Taylor. “[Criminals] are not going to a city that won't tolerate [crime]. That’s what crime prevention is. You're not necessarily going to stop the criminal you're just going to stop him from victimizing you or your community.”