By Blake Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal

It was a telling sign Tuesday night when citizens of Selma were asked to raise their hand if they have been affected by crime during a public safety forum.

Dallas County Sheriff Harris Huffman, Selma Police Chief John Brock and District Attorney Michael Jackson each touched on problems and how citizens can help them combat crime.

“Between the city of Selma and Dallas County, we have about 42,000 to 43,000 people. Between the Selma Police Department and the sheriff’s office, we have less than 100 post-certified officers,” Huffman told the crowd. “You can figure out the math. We’ve got our hands tied.”

Huffman’s message to citizens was simple; speak up.

“The biggest thing that goes on in Selma right now and in Dallas County is fear, and I can understand that, but we work off of information. When we get information, we investigate it,” he said. “If nobody tells us anything, we’re not going to investigate it because we don’t have any information to investigate. If you see something, say something.”

Brock shared the police department’s lack of officers and the effort they are making with just 43 officers.

“Last year we had 38,000 complaints with 20,000 people, so somebody is calling the police multiple times,” Brock said. “We’re way understaffed, but we’re trying. I’ve got some good police officers up there. I’m very proud of the officers up there in the police department.”

Brock said the raise the department got Oct. 1 helped some, but in order to get their numbers where they need to be, the salaries need to be increased more.

“We’re way understaffed, but we’re trying. I’ve got some good police officers up there. I’m very proud of the officers up there in the police department,” he said. “The ones that are up there now … have many, many, many hats. They do patrol, they do investigations, they do narcotics … a lot of different people do a lot of different things.”

Jackson focused on gangs in Selma, listing off at least 12 different entities in Selma and Dallas County.

“We have a serious gang problem,” Jackson said. “We’re going to have to basically declare war on these gangs. That’s just the bottom line. They’re going to have to be taken off the streets.”

When asked for real solutions to stopping crime in the city and county, Jackson said the solution is more officers. The Selma Police Department has funding for 15 additional officers, but has had trouble filling that void.

“We’ve got to have more police officers. We collectively need about 100 officers here,” Jackson said. “You can’t have three or four officers patrolling the city at night. That’s just not going to cut it.”

Jackson said judges reducing bonds is an issue that also needs to be addressed and encouraged citizens to talk to judges and ask them to be harder on people that commit crimes.

“The struggle with judges is they want to give them another chance,” Jackson said. “How many chances does it take? They don’t think the citizens are paying attention to what they’re doing, so if you happen to bump into these judges, say please be tough.”

Mayor Darrio Melton said the forum was the first step to making Selma safer.

“For too long, our citizens in this city have been terrorized day in and day out. Tonight is a step forward in taking our city back,” Melton said.