Proactive approach benefits community

Springfield, Mo., for many of us, is virtually the ideal community. It is a growing region with an excellent mix of business and industry. As Missouri's third largest city, it has all of the rustic charm of a rural center with many of the advantages of much larger communities. All in all, it's hard to argue that Springfield is anything but a fine, prosperous city with nothing but progress in their future.

But now Springfield has found that with growth comes problems. Their problems come in the form of gangs that have relocated from the urban centers of Missouri as well as Little Rock and the West Coast. Police have identified 40 hard-core gang members who are now recruiting other youths into their ranks. Burglaries are up 24 percent, aggravated assaults are up 11 percent, robberies up 18 percent and guns have been displayed in 35 crimes. Most of this increase may well come from the growth in the gangs now entering their community.

But to their great credit, Springfield has taken a proactive approach to the problem. A grand jury last week designed to combat increased gang crime has handed down its first indictment. More are expected. Springfield is sending a strong message that gangs will not be allowed in their community. And they are taking that approach early. That's how you combat gangs.

Communities can either be proactive or reactive. They can wait until the problem gains a foothold and then take action. Or they can see the problem before it grows and put some teeth into their enforcement early on. In many ways, Sikeston has seen problems and been proactive. But in some areas, the problem was more severe than imagined and our approach has to be reactive. We are no exception.

We all need to use Springfield as the model for our approach to a decline in their quality of life. They are sending a strong message and backing that message up with some law enforcement and judicial teeth. We can only hope they eliminate this criminal element and send them packing. If the criminal element thinks they can win the war in Springfield, we have more faith in the community and their values.

Keep an eye on Springfield. They may have the right approach at the right time. We can only pray for their success.