Think you can stamp out crime?
A Los Angeles City Council Representative Eric Garcetti wants to hear your public safety ideas. Have a plan to solve the problems of gangs, guns and/or domestic violence? Maybe it's a neighborhood watch? Increased afterschool programming for kids? More police monitored cameras in crime hotspots? Whatever your idea, we want to hear it!
Submit your ideas in the comment box below or check out what others have said in the forum.
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I know this is old school, but basketball leagues are always hot. Great way to occupy people.
Another crazy idea: can you convince the malls and stores to stay open late? it keep people employed and shopping instead of hanging out.
I believe most crime begins with varying degrees of mental health issues--stress, low self esteem, bullying, road rage, depression, addiction, and on up to more serious mental illnesses.
I don't think we should alienate or condemn people with issues; I think we should do more to help them and thereby help ALL of us by preventing tragedy.
If we educate people of all ages about how to deal with emotional health issues, I believe the result will be dynamic. We should all learn more about self esteem and stress relief in our own lives. We should also be educated on how to detect a possible problem with a friend or loved one and WHAT we can do to help them and keep everyone around them safe and healthy.
Whether through the education system or through community programs, we should all get involved somehow. Addiction and mental illness is affecting us all a great deal yet none of us really knows what to do when faced with a serious issue--our own or someone else's. We don't know who to call or what to do.... and then tragic things happen as a result of our helplessness.
I totally agree with you Owl72.
The majority of those in jail for major crimes have mental illnesses. If you have a mental illness you are not being helped in jail; if anything being locked up is making things worse. If we could just help them out in a facility that yes detains them but also has therapy, community projects and such to help these "criminals" deal with their mental illness and possibly learn anger management and how to calmly, safely and correctly work with the public.
Also, our mental health institutes are in terrible shape, but that is another story.
Sports, clubs,dance, music lessons any extra curricular activity can help students. Getting them interested might be tough. So really make it look good and fun when announcing it.
I do agree with everyone, except I wouldn't call low self-esteem a mental illness, since everyone has it to some degree. I do agree that low self-esteem does contribute to it. Someone with less self-esteem is more likely to bully someone. So helping people with those issues would definately help.
However, there is something that no one has brought up. After the virginia tech incident a teacher brought up that the best way to prevent something like that from happening again was, when you were thinking about saying something mean about someone, think: would you want someone to say that to you, how would the person react. Then stop!
I think that students should be taught that their actions can really hurt others, and get them to understand that there can be consequences for, and most of all IT'S NOT FUNNY!!! The reason that most students pick on people is because they think it's funny. They need to learn it's not. Granted it has been done before so it might not do much.
I don't think we can fully end violence amongst teens and others. But we sure can help reduce the statistics. I mean have you read the statistics! 11-12 year old know people in gangs!
-Join a club after school, weekends, maybe even get your friends involved. Join something your passionate about so it doesn't feel as if you're forced to be there, rather you want to be there.
-Talk to your teachers, maybe your favorite teacher, and explain to him/her the facts about bullying. Then maybe see if you two can talk to the school's principal and try to get him/her to hold an assembly. It may take time, but if at least one of every 3 students who went to that assembly took something home with them, in their mind, bullying could be reduced a great amount.
-If you're being bullied, dont try and take measurements into your own hands. I knew a young girl who took her life because of bullying, don't let it become you. Talk to a friend, a teacher, an adult. Someone you can trust, don't be afraid, no one is going to judge you.
Just remember, have faith. XoXo.
This is something they did in my hometown of Boston and it actually reduced the crime rate dramatically:
Different student groups got together and did art projects around the "rougher" parts of the inner city. One of the best ones was this: they went to all the buildings that were abandoned and had boarded over windows and painted scenes on the wooden panels like someone washing their plants or people waving to people on the street. On some they just painted really beautiful curtains or shades. Crime rate actually dropped in those areas. it was incredible!
I know this sounds like it wouldn't prevent crime etc. but it does! Art can save the world people! It was also a great way to give young people an after school activity to keep them out of trouble. Even after the projects were done, kids kept getting together and started painting murals! It gave some great color to the city
--Cross cultural community programs to promote tolerance and understanding.
--Teach about gun safety in the school system.
--More youth programs so they do not get involved in gangs.
-- More street lamps in high-crime areas.
-- More community outreach. At USC we get DPS notifications through email and text message. Make this available to all LA residents so they know how to stay safe.
Community outreach and extracurricular activities I think are two of the most important things we can do. Adding more security cameras and imposing more restrictions will just create anymosity and almost challenge people to retaliate. Improving the physical environment in which we live in is also key in decreasing violence because it will inadvertently improve our emotional and psychological disposition thus making us less likely to have negative feelings.
I think its important for the people in the community to know about the extent of gangs, guns and domestic violence in their area.
A lot of people don't even think there is that much violence in their community since they are so sheltered. If people became more aware of how common it is, people would be more likely to take action and try to prevent it.
Conflict-resolution classes in all schools and a reduction of conditions that perpetuate poverty will drop crime rate, because poverty is a key underlying issue that promotes conflict and crime.