A nine year old girl in a small suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio was killed in her home when thirty shots were fired into it from an AK-7 rifle from a drive-by shooting. Within one day, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department had two suspects in custody. A third turned himself in the following day.
There is a hue and cry to stop the violence in communities across the country and demanding law enforcement to stop the killing. The problem is that there is nothing that law enforcement can do to prevent this violence. Placing a police officer on every corner in the United Staes would not stop people from killing each other as evidenced by the mass shooting in Cleveland, Ohio outside of a bar while a heavy uniformed police presence was in the immediate area.
In order to quell the violence, parents need to teach their children that the “thug life” has terrible consequences and then monitor their activities to keep them in line.
Police can incarcerate large numbers of people, but the violence will continue unabated. The only thing that will be accomplished is the cost of warehousing these people and straining state budgets with money that could be more effectively used in other ways. Also, the disparity of people of color would be highlighted and screams of racism would be heard.
People need to take responsibility, and he held accountable, for the children they bring into this world. The adage that “It takes a village to raise a child” has never been more accurate. The neighborhood needs to unite to be vigilant to discourage abhorrent behavior and to report to parent(s) of the child concerning behavior. The neighborhood also needs to cooperate with police to identify perpetrators of violence and to assist in the prosecution of these people.
Some crimes have no answers. People seek logical answers to irrational behavior. A 31 year old father shot and killed his three sons with a rifle, not an assault rifle or a handgun, to death execution style. The father ran out of ammunition and then reloaded. His stepdaughter was able to escape and summon help and his wife was shot when she put her hand over the barrel of the weapon. The father was still at the scene when sheriff’s deputies arrived and confessed to the horrific crime.
Over the past decade,many law enforcement agencies have hired social workers to work with victims of violent crime, but that is always post-incident. It is the best they can do.