Ask a variety of residents around Selma what they think of crime in the city and you’ll get a myriad of answers.

Most agree, however, that something needs to be done about it.

Of course, Selma is not the only city in the state with crime problems, as some residents pointed out.

Crime tends to top the list of residents’ concerns in almost any part of the country.

Residents in Selma, and in Dallas County, are not unlike residents in the Northwest, Northeast, West Coast, Florida, big cities or other small towns. We all want to know that our families are safe. We want to walk to the store, or to town without fear of being attacked.

We want to know that we are safe in our homes, and in our businesses.

One 63-year-old Selma native says city crime is out of control and he doesn’t see an end in sight.

Frank Mitchell says crime has gotten so bad, “you’re scared to get in your car at night. You’re scared to go anywhere at night. It’s like you’re in New York or Detroit.”

More than one of the residents questioned offered suggestions.

The first is that city leaders have to acknowledge there are problems before anything else can be done.

Other suggestions include that the public needs to get involved

– not just get concerned when crime hits home.

There are a lot of programs in our area designed to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble. It’d be a start if that effort spread into all parts of the city, and citizens offered to volunteer with some of these groups (The YMCA and the Selma Youth Development Center are just two such entities).

Still another resident suggested giving police officers a raise and making sure the department has state-of-the-art equipment to fight crime.

We couldn’t agree more – with all of these suggestions.

There’s no point in blaming someone else for what they should be doing to fight crime.

Each of us has to take responsibility for our community in order to make a difference.