Via
WRSA
Smith lives in a neighborhood that’s being marred by a slowly
increasing frequency of crimes against property. He ponders applying to
the relevant police precinct for additional surveillance, perhaps a
regular roving patrol, but realizes that, as his locale is neither as
prosperous as some nor as badly off as others, he’d have a hard time
making the case that the police ought to devote more of their resources
to it.
What about political action? Some residential areas have used
partisan influence to cause protective resources to be redirected in
their favor. It could work – Smith’s neighborhood is largely inclined in
the direction of the currently dominant party – but it would run the
risk of being temporary, as political solutions always are. Smith files
the thought away while he looks for another approach.
Smith suddenly remembers an article he read, a couple of years
back, about a neighborhood in another state that formed a gun club
specifically for its residents. That neighborhood had seen a dramatic
decrease in local crime, as predators are naturally wary of law-abiding
citizens with firearms. There was a cost – property suitable for a
firing range had to be purchased, and someone had to be paid to
administer the club – but the result seemed positive all the same. “What
if such a club were coupled to a Neighborhood Watch program?” he muses.
Smith appeals to his neighbors for their thoughts. The bifurcated
approach to deterring crime appeals to the majority of them. There’s
some difficulty working out the details at first, but ultimately the
necessary funds and scheduling requirements work themselves out.
Presently the neighborhood has an armed guard, composed of the persons
best inclined toward taking the problem seriously: its own residents.
Crime decreases. Property values go up. Perhaps best of all, neighbors
become better acquainted with one another: more neighborly.
