BOYLAN: Crime and (lack of) punishment

Published 10:30 am Friday, November 26, 2021

Yet another shooting in our community…are gangs impervious to being caught and incarcerated? Drive-by shootings, murder, armed assault, criminal trespass … these crimes are principally confined to specific areas within our community and our law enforcement agencies appear unable (or unwilling) to protect the citizens where the preponderance of these crimes occur. We are in a war against gangs and our citizens in these communities are not being protected. One must question why this is the case. If it is a question of resources as opposed to positioning law officers in these identified (and confirmed) areas, then our elected officials appear to ignore the plight that our citizens find themselves in. In any case, each of our governmental agencies is remiss in not serving this community and the citizens who elected them. If it is a question of resources (as one law enforcement agency has stated), then there appears to be a lack of concern by our elected leaders as evidenced by not devoting the resources necessary to resolve this problem. On the other hand, these criminal acts are principally confined to specific areas that would suggest that our law enforcement officials should know where to focus their efforts. The problem (war) is not going to be resolved by “wringing our hands in a positive manner” and hoping for the best. It is a tragedy that our community with three colleges and award-winning schools must suffer because the city council, county commission, and law enforcement agencies appear unwilling (or unable) to successfully address the issue. To wit … they are not devoting the efforts necessary to ensure that the safety of our citizens in certain portions of our community is protected. All I can see are leaders who are nodding their heads sagely and sitting on their proverbial hands while leaving the issue to the gods of hope. Wars are won with initiative and innovative leadership.  

Peter J. Boylan

Milledgeville