The shooting at VASA Fitness last month was a frightening reminder that public safety remains a concern for many Lafayette residents.
When incidents like this occur, the conversation often turns immediately to security measures, enforcement and punishment. Those responses have a role to play. But if we want safer neighborhoods in the long term, we must also ask a harder question: What are we doing to prevent violence before it starts?
Public safety is not just a policing issue; it is also an economic and workforce issue. Vasa fitness has chosen to use a “band system” to access the basketball court, shut the court down early, and other preventative methods to address this that are not inherently targeted to address the real issue that led to the problem.
We know that, across the country, research consistently shows that stable employment, mentorship and educational opportunity are among the strongest predictors of positive outcomes for young people. Simultaneously, local employers have repeatedly identified workforce shortages as one of the region’s most pressing economic challenges, even as many young people struggle to find clear pathways into family-sustaining careers.
These two realities should not exist side by side. We have young people searching for purpose, and we have employers searching for workers. Yet too often, the systems connecting those groups remain fragmented.
As a veteran and communications professional working in workforce development and second-chance initiatives, I have seen firsthand how quickly lives can change when individuals are given a clear path toward meaningful work.
I have also seen the alternative. When young people believe they have a future worth investing in, they tend to invest in it. When that path is absent, poor decisions become easier to make and harder to escape. Building restrictions and arbitrary guidelines do not replace employment, mentorship and educational opportunities or solve the inherent issues but rather create more.
We should think about public safety the same way we think about city infrastructure. We would never wait for a bridge to collapse before maintaining it; we should apply that same logic to our community development.
The data supports this proactive approach:
Lafayette already has many organizations working toward these goals: schools, nonprofits, employers, veterans’ groups and faith communities. The challenge is not a lack of good intentions; it is building stronger coordination around measurable outcomes.
Do we want to continue spending most of our resources responding to problems after they occur, or do we want to invest more aggressively in preventing them?
Police officers carry an enormous burden, responding to crises every day. But no police department can mentor every teenager, create every job or provide every person with a sense of purpose. That work belongs to all of us: parents, business owners, educators and neighbors.
If Lafayette wants to become safer and more prosperous, we must continue supporting law enforcement while simultaneously investing in the workforce pathways, mentorship networks and leadership opportunities that help prevent violence from taking root in the first place.
Public safety begins long before a siren sounds. It begins when opportunity becomes easier to find than trouble.
Mickey Saine is a veteran, communications professional and Lafayette resident.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Op-ed: Preventing violence in Lafayette is an investment in our future
Reporting by Michael Saine, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Michael Saine, Lafayette Journal & Courier | USA TODAY Network
