Building Safe Communities: How Marion's Approach to Crime Prevention Could Inspire Others | Homepage

If a city has a low crime rate, you may wonder how it was achieved and whether that city's methods could work elsewhere.

The city of Marion has consistently low crime rates, and Marion Police Chief Randall Davis cites one of the key factors for a low-crime city.

“It's about community engagement. Community engagement is what solves a lot of crimes. When you're involved in your community, people feel like they're part of something, and that reduces crime significantly,” Davis said.

While Chief Davis acknowledged that there is no crime in his city, he said that citizen involvement and help from outside agencies would help solve crimes quickly.

He also reported on the daily duties of the city police in addition to their regular duties.

“Get to know the employees, get to know everyone, make sure they get home safe, have regular community events where the community comes together, you know what I mean? Just keep at it,” Davis said.

Marion Alderman Barbara Anthony says the community is growing and improvements are planned, such as adding walking paths and playgrounds.

“I think if we get these walking paths and playgrounds for our children, parents would have a place in the community to go and not have to go outside the community. So they could feel safe here in our community,” Anthony said.

Unity between a community and its officials could be the first step in reducing crime, similar to what happened in the city of Marion.