Shawn Lewis writes:
List members: Please let us know if you see/hear the helicopter and most importantly, is it making a difference. Also, candidates for re-election must be press about how they will work with the community to reduce crime.
Dennis Plante Responds:
I think more appropriately, we should be asking our politicians: is it sustainable? and is it what we want for a solution? Unless the demand (for the narcotices) is somehow taken away, the problem will not go away, regardless of how many job programs you publicly subsidize for the disenfranchised youth. Almost none of them are going to be willing to give-up the potential financial benefits of selling illegal narcotics, to voluntarily enter into a job-training program where they'll make a fraction of the money.
I feel that this problem is so debilitating not only to the people that are directly involved in it, but to the community as a whole, that it is time to take a different approach to it. We need to find a way to start going after the buyers of the illegal narcotics. It's simple business economics. If you take away the customer-base, the business will inevitabally go-out of business. These kids will stop hanging-out on street corners and will stop (for the most part) shooting each other, if the financial incentive for doing so is taken away.
We need to look to our politicians and our legal system to revamp the laws that exist on the books that make it easier for the police to do their jobs. The overall impact on the neighborhood of the individuals that come to north Minneapolis to purchase illegal narcotics are not currently accurately weighed in our justice system. They are far more costly and have much deeper consequences that what we are admitting to. The illegal activity that occurrs as a result of individuals coming to these neighborhoods to buy illegal narcotics, would not be occurring if we were to adopt a more proactive approach to dealing with the first issue.
dennis plante jordan
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