East St. Louis Illinois-Criminals Run Wild

From Nicholas Pistor at the St. Louis Post Dispatch;
"Rev. Joseph Tracy said he’s tired of going to funerals. And now, he suspects he’ll be going to more of them.
"It’s open field day now," said Tracy, the pastor of Straightway Baptist Church here. "The criminals are going to run wild."
Gang activity. Drug dealing. Cold-blooded killing. Tracy worries that a decision to shrink the police force by almost 30 percent will bring more of everything.
The pastor voiced his concern on Friday at a raucous special City Council meeting at which East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks announced that the city will layoff 37 employees, including 19 of its 62 police officers, 11 firefighters, four public works employees, and three administrators. The layoffs take effect on Sunday."

Ever been to E. St. Louis, Illinois? I have. No, let me rephrase: I've been through it. Last summer, on my way home from Kansas City, I missed my exit on the outerbelt north of St. Louis, Missouri and continued on through St. Loo, across the Mississippi River into E. St. Louis, Illinois. I've been on this planet a number of years but I've learned when going from the Missouri war zone into the Illinois battleground I look straight ahead. I wear blinders, press the gas pedal ever so slightly and breathe a sigh of relief when I'm, thankfully, in the countryside east of ground zero.
I sense a great debate coming on--------again. It's started in Columbus, Ohio with an increase of shootings, especially of young people. Weird how most of the shootings occur after 11 pm and before the sun comes up. I wonder why that is. When the bullets fly, minorities are usually involved. Everyone is trying to come up with an answer. The first thing to happen will be that the City Father's initiate a Commission to study the matter. It's SOP. I could write down at least ten good reasons to help alleviate the situation but then my readers would say, "there he goes again, up on his soap box". So, I won't write anything other than to put the onus on you. What to be done, what to be done.