Op/ed: Fetzer calls for more focus on public safety

By Tom Fetzer

The first cities in the world appeared around 4500 BC. Their primary function was to provide safety for their citizens. Indeed, the very word citizen is derived from the Latin word for city.

Almost 7,000 years later, the primary purpose for the existence of cities remains the same—to provide for the safety and well being of its citizens.

Cities are the foundational building blocks of cultures throughout the globe. Once people had the luxury of not spending an inordinate amount of time and energy defending themselves from predators, human and otherwise, they were able to engage in more noble pursuits. It is in cities where business and commerce first flourished and prosperity and security allowed the arts, literature, science and education to emerge in the ancient world.

In short, civilization as we know it, or what passes for it these days, sprang from cities. Which explains why the first citizens’ loyalty was not to their country but to their city. They preferred to be known as Athenians or Spartans rather than Greeks.

In the present day, public safety remains the cornerstone of civilization. Nothing that we have come to associate with “quality of life” — education, commerce, leisure, the arts and sciences, health, transportation and the hallmark of America, self governance — can exist without first establishing and maintaining public safety.

Tragically, many cities are not providing that fundamental human necessity for which they were founded nearly 7,000 years ago. And it’s not just big cities in America which are failing, like Chicago, which is on track to have more homicides than any years since 1996, when there were 796 documented cases.

Here some headlines from one recent week:

August 30 – Student at local high school shot. Hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

September 1 – Shooting at high school leaves one student dead.

September 8 – 3-year-old killed after 150 rounds fired into home.

Those examples from crime-ridden places in faraway cities in other regions, right? No. These tragic stories are from Wilmington, Winston Salem and Charlotte, respectively. All are reportedly related to gang activity.

Violent crime is up significantly and scarily in many North Carolina cities, perhaps none more so than Asheville. A study by 24/7 Wall St., an independent financial news and opinion website, reported Asheville was in the top 10% of the most violent cities in the U.S. after reviewing FBI crime data for 4,548 cities with more than 5,000 people.

Asheville recently reported that it had lost 86 police officers in the last year, more than a third of its force. To put that in perspective, Seattle lost 150 officers roughly during the same period, but with a population more than 7 times greater than Asheville.

In a scene that could be right out of George Orwell’s 1984, while crime is raging all across America, many activists are advocating for defunding or eliminating city police departments and arguing specifically for reduced police protection in our public schools.

In a world seemingly turned upside down, our elected city leaders need to restore us to right-side up. They can begin with a renewed emphasis on public safety. This means, quite simply, more investment in law enforcement and proven strategies like establishing police substations in our most vulnerable neighborhoods. The vast majority of shootings and homicides are gang or drug-related or both. Eradicating gangs and drug trafficking needs more resources and manpower.

Our elected leaders, now more than ever, need and deserve our support to take the appropriate measures to rid our streets and neighborhoods of the criminals shooting and killing our fellow citizens. Let’s be clear. This does not entail giving law enforcement carte blanche. But it does mean restoring the respect and appreciation for the men and women who “serve and protect” us that has long been a mainstay of the American mindset.

The bottom line? Our children cannot learn, much less thrive in our schools if they live in fear for their safety. Neither can parents function effectively in their jobs or other worthwhile pursuits if they live in fear for their children’s safety.

A decline in cities’ ability to provide that most basic of human needs — safety — for which they were created seven millennia ago, will ultimately destroy America one community at a time.

It’s time to get busy.

Tom Fetzer is the former mayor of Raleigh. He is president of Fetzer Strategic Partners, a lobbying and consulting firm. He lives in Wilmington with his wife and five children.