The Truth Is Out There

by Chad D. Baus

As I stood in the lobby at the Sheriff's office, waiting for my photograph to be taken, my attention was drawn to a large rack of informational brochures.

There, among the advice about not driving drunk, just saying no to drugs, and gun safety pamphlets, was an interesting little tri-fold from the Ohio Attorney General, entitled "Shedding Light on Rural Crime".

It starts like this...

Dear Fellow Ohioan:

In the past 20 years, Ohio's rural crime rate has increased by a staggering 600 percent. Not a very comfortable statistic, is it? Recent housing trends have brought more and more unfamiliar faces to rural communities, and it is no longer easy to spot an outsider. Criminals know that you have a lot of money tied up in machinery, livestock and equipment; and modern transportation enables them to travel into a rural area, determine an easy target, commit a crime, and be miles away before the victim ever knows what happened.

Fortunately, there is something we can do about it. An increasing number of urban, suburban and rural communities are organizing crime prevention programs, and, as a direct result, their crime rates are decreasing. Some crime prevention tactics are only common sense, but others require you to take extra measures to protect yourself from crime. It is always easier to prevent a crime before it happens than to attempt to solve it afterwards. I strongly encourage all Ohioans to use effective crime prevention tactics such as those described in this brochure.

This header followed:

"It Will Never Happen to Me."

An increasing number of people are beginning to see the folly in that statement. Crimes happen to everybody, especially people who think it will never happen to them. They are less likely to take precautions which will decrease their vulnerability to crime.

Preventing crime is every citizen's responsibility. Law enforcement officers can help protect us, but they cannot be everywhere at the same time. Usually law enforcement officers become involved only after a crime has been committed.

I was shocked to see such honest, truth-filled, matter-of-fact statements by the Ohio Attorney General:

Rural crime increasing at a "staggering" pace; criminals find easy targets in rural areas; crime prevention "every citizen's responsibility"; law enforcement "cannot be everywhere at the same time', and officers are often relegated to mop-up duty.

I thought to myself: "We can sure use such honestly these days, amidst claims that concealed carry proponents are endorsing a "culture of fear", that it's only rural citizens demanding licenses to bear arms for self-defense and that they are not at risk of becoming victims, or that we should just leave it up to law enforcement to prevent crime from occurring."

It was then that I noticed: This brochure was printed in 1989, by then-Attorney General Anthony J. Celebreeze, Jr.

The truth is out there...and in some cases, it has been for a very, very long time.