The police are overworked and underpaid, the criminals are gaining the upper-hand, and there is nothing more the mayor can do to help. In my world, this is the point where we go to the roof of City Hall and turn on the Bat Signal. Unfortunately, my wife maintains that Batman is not real (the jury is still out on that one, in my opinion) and if Batman were real he would be busy in a city like Chicago or New York. He wouldn’t have time for Lockport.

So, we can’t call in Batman to save the day. Now what? The truth, my friends, is that we have to call in someone to save the day or we are in huge trouble. When criminals feel comfortable enough to throw a rock through the glass doors on the Market Street Art Gallery and just take money from the register, then we are in trouble.

With the incident on High Street, the gun shots are officially getting really close to where our children congregate. School is out for the year, but how different would the High and Pine situation have been if the old John Pound, Emmett Belknap, and Roy B. Kelley schools were all in session? How many panicked Lockport parents would we have posting frantically to Facebook to find out more information?

Here is the situation we face. The brave men and women of our police force are overworked and underpaid. To make things worse, our city is so broke that we cannot afford more police officers. If I know that, then the chances are pretty good that the bad guys know that too.

Criminals simply do not care about anyone but themselves. Battle royales in broad daylight using bats and pit bulls was something Lockport people only saw in movies. Yet, it happened in our city in the last week or two. When criminals smell blood (aka – a small city rapidly becoming overwhelmed), they attack in droves. They continue to overwhelm the city until the people who love the city lose that city. Don’t kid yourselves – that is the path we are headed down.

What is the biggest issue facing Lockport today? Illegal drugs. Illegal drug users, illegal drug pushers, and the gangs that seem to form when an illegal drug trade is set up in an area. Gangs in Lockport. I find it hard to believe that controlling turf in Lockport is a big status symbol for any gang member.

A few weeks ago, I said that we would have to take our streets back if we want to avoid losing our city. One of the comments I got accurately pointed out that calling the police is useless because the police are stretched so thin. What does that really mean? It means that we are getting to the point where we are unable to defend ourselves. It is time to swallow that pride that seems to run so thick in Lockport and call out for help.

So who do we call? Well, the state troopers have a base in the town. I know they are probably busy doing state stuff, but a trooper car patrolling through Lockport a few times a day can only help.

The Niagara County Sheriff has a drug task force that has done a couple sweeps of Lockport in the past. It is time for another sweep. If we can get the state and the county to spend a little time on our issue, we could probably take huge steps towards getting it under control. For God’s sake, we are the county seat. Can the county seat get a little help from the county police?

In recent months, I have found myself saying words I never thought I would ever say – I am considering taking my family and leaving Lockport. I don’t want to. That is actually the last thing I ever want to do. But in the last 10 years, Lockport has become a landing ground for career criminals and drug pushers. The criminals and drugs bring the guns. I could never live with myself if my kids decided to set up a home in Lockport and then a gun incident happened in or near the school where my grandchildren were.

People used to live in Lockport because it was safe and clean. I knew a lot of people who had jobs in Buffalo and the surrounding burbs, but lived in Lockport because it was a lot cheaper than Amherst, but the quality of life was very similar. That is no longer the case. Lockport is now seen in the same light as downtown Niagara Falls and the East Side of Buffalo (pockets of decent people surrounded by havoc and chaos). We are no longer seen as the safe little place to live.

As people leave, our tax base drops. When our tax base drops, we are unable to hire more police officers. The criminals smell more blood and we are in bigger trouble. It is a cycle that can only be stopped by help from the outside. Lockport is my home and I know how much we hate asking for outside help. But we are out of options.

Batman is not going to come save the day (according to my wife, at least). But there are people who can help us. Maybe Lockport’s government is too proud to ask for help, but I am not.

Our safe little city is being overwhelmed by scumbags. If we cannot get it under control soon, then . . .

Nick Oliver is a Niagara County resident and still believes that Batman is out there somewhere. His column appears every Wednesday.

---

East Niagara Post is now on FourSquare. Add us as a friend to see where we're at.