To the Editor:

At what point are the citizens of Selma going to understand that because the elected leadership says that added police officers on the streets is not an answer to our crime problem does not make that statement true?

When are the citizens going to stand up and tell them that social approaches to the serious crime conditions are not effective, but protection through numbers in law enforcement is the greatest deterrent.

I have had the pleasure of speaking to many people affiliated with the referral agencies involved in the TrustBuild program, the mayor’s latest answer to crime.

They, without reservation, say that this program is the joke of the year. The few people that this program is assisting are those who need help with power bills, gas bills, etc.

These people say that these same people who are directed by TrustBuild have been to their agencies before and are aware of what the agency can or can’t do to help.

They also say that the duplication caused by TrustBuild makes it more difficult for them to do their job because promises have already been made to them before they get to the agency.

TrustBuild is a boondoggle hung around the taxpayer’s neck to the tune of over $500,000 each year, not to mention the reassigning of police officers to a social program.

This money and energy could have been directed to the Public Safety Division to assist with the crime that is hurting everyone. A favorite tactic used by politicians to get their way is by tying adversity together.

The mayor effectively tied a new school with the land purchase, TrustBuild with law enforcement and tied our high crime level to “crime is high everywhere.”

It appears that the general public is going to be responsible for addressing and solving the problems of crime because communication has been severed to the majority by the city leaders.

There have only been two people in my life that have told me, “It’s going to be this way because I told you so.”

It was my mother and father and I trusted them. I have very little trust in the decisions made by our “so-called” leadership, because the decisions are made for the few, not the majority.

We must arm ourselves with good common sense.

Do not be bullied or intimidated. We have been and are continuing to be stripped of the very roots of democracy; control of our government.

Gene Hisel