It’s going to take more than just police officers to fight crime in Selma and Dallas County, according to Safe Communities Coordinator Susan Keith.

“It’s going to be incumbent upon us as citizens to get involved,” she said.

The Safe Communities Foundation is a state, local and federal initiative to decrease crime through increased community

participation.

The foundation focuses on “engaging the community in taking appropriate action to help curb crime and feel safer,” Keith said.

While the task may seem big, it’s actually quite easy for neighborhoods to get involved.

Citizens need to form neighborhood watches, report suspicious activity and essentially get to know their neighborhoods, Keith said.

Also, Keith urged communities to get to know their local law enforcement agency, a process she compared to making a cake.

“Each person brings something to the table,” she said.

Safe works to get agencies together on the law enforcement end as well, ensuring that each individual organization (police, sheriff, district attorney) is on the same page.

Without that collaboration, of law enforcement and community, crime isn’t going to decrease, Keith said.

Keith said she wants the community to call their local police department or sheriff’s officer to find out how they can help.

“I want them to get involved with neighborhood watch,” she said.

For more information on Neighborhood Watch programs, contact the Selma Police Department at 874-6611 or the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department at 874-2530.