You can help stop crime on the rise

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No less than seven pairs of shoes currently dangle over power lines across the street from the home where a drive-by shooting occurred Sunday night on the Fond du Lac Reservation.

Normally it only takes one pair of kicks to make a statement, and that statement is often one of drug and/or gang activity, according to Darrin Berg, Cloquet police detective.

After Sunday’s incident, there is little doubt in the minds of area law enforcement that if the current criminal activity is not stopped immediately, the county could face a burgeoning problem.

Some of the teens reportedly involved in the drive-by shooting were also responsible for some of the widespread “Native Mob” graffiti around Cloquet and the reservation recently. The escalation in crime is alarming, Berg said.

Police had learned recently of reports that several of these so-called Native Mob gang members were receiving guns and this incident seems to confirm it.

In order to curb this activity, the good news is there is something we as citizens can do.

Local residents are truly the people who can make the biggest difference in neighborhoods, Berg said.

“They have to say, ‘We’re not going to put up with it and help law enforcement any way we can,’” he said.

The good news after Sunday’s violent crime in which a bullet fired into the home narrowly missed a 16-year-old girl, is that thanks to area citizens, four people have already been arrested, are incarcerated and one has already been criminally charged.

Witnesses spoke up, giving officers the help they needed to arrest four teens soon after the incident occurred. The homeowner where the four males were found, although uneasy and uncooperative at first according to officers, eventually permitted them to enter and catch the criminals.

Individuals who help law enforcement are simply helping themselves and the community as a whole become a safer, better place to live, where shoes are not on power lines, but where they belong – moving forward.

Lisa Baumann

Tags: crime, shoes, power, lines, drive, by, shooting