Have you looked at the police log in the papers this past week? Robberies, breaking and enterting, theft, car theft ... it reads like something out of Norristown.

What's happening to our town? People can't walk out of a business they own without getting robbed? A man can't take his BINGO proceeds home because a black man robbed them from him outside St. Stan's church? Outside a church!!

Bikes taken from schools, vehicles taken from performance and car shops ... what, now we have chop shops in our town? Not even your car is safe at a business anymore. And is the business responsible for your stolen car?

I fear that we may not be able to walk the streets of our town safely anymore. Have the demons and trash from Philly and Norristown permeated our sanctity known as Lansdale? Maybe we do need cops ... tell them to quit wasting time parking in yellow-striped areas between lanes on Broad Street during rush hour and use that time later in the evening to patrol the towns. Hell, I could do a better job with the amount of time wasted driving around town because there's nothing to do around here?

I also fear that soon we'll have to band together as a community and take back our streets. We don't have a Batman or signalized spotlights to shine in the sky. We don't have surveillance cameras at every corner. All we have is our own eyes and courage, and hopefully that will be enough. We don't want Lansdale to become the next Norristown, but Norristown is becoming the next Philly.

Will our community be here in five years?