Blame Cops For Crime Waves? Nope, Blame Us

But the moment a guy wearing a mask is lurking near your home or a young thug has just cracked you in the head and stolen your wallet or a hit-and-run-driver has just smashed the hell out of the front end of your new car and took off, guess who you call?

The po-po. Men in blue. The jump out boys. Hawaii 5-O. Pigs. Whatever you call them, you call them. Society needs cops like grass needs water.

And now that folks -- especially young black folks on the South, Southwest and West sides of Chicago -- are shooting and stabbing each other like there's no damn tomorrow (and the hot summer weather hasn't even kicked in yet), we can't afford for the distrust and disrespect between cops and citizens to escalate much higher. Bringing in the National Guard isn't the answer, contrary to what two of our esteemed elected officials suggested last week. This ain't Serbia. It's not Iraq. It's Chicago.

Yes, way more jobs and after-school programs for young folks will go a mighty long way to taking young people off the street (and not making them targets for drive-bys) and give them constructive things to do -- and a future. But as long as people shoot and stab each other in the heat of the moment, during a violent domestic argument, over a drug deal gone bad or in some other premeditated fashion, the crime and crime waves won't stop.

The cops can only respond, secure the area, gather evidence, interview witnesses and launch an investigation. By that time, somebody's truly innocent or not so innocent son or daughter is laying on a cold, hard slab in the coroner's office.

Don't exclusively blame the cops for escalating crime and crime waves. Blame the folks who commit it.