Daily Blog: Dubuque Fights Back

Dubuque, Iowa is a classic mid-sized city. Nearly 60,000 residents live there. Unfortunately, a number of gangs also live there:

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=237280

But Dubuque is fighting back. Realizing that crime impacts everyone, the city has decided that fighting gang crime is too big for just the police. And so the city has launched a community-wide effort to make the city safer and more livable. According the Dubuque Telegraph Herald:

"The Dubuque Police Department employs a 'community-oriented philosophy.' Officers try to form ties to the community before crime occurs, to break down barriers between neighborhoods and the department."

The city has even gone so far as to host a "Gangs 101" seminar to help other communities learn how to work together to fight crime.

Mid-sized cities like Dubuque offer an important reminder that communities work best when communities work together.