PURPOSE:  To improve and promote the livability of all neighborhoods in the La Crosse area.

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Crime

La Crosse has a very low crime rate compared to other parts of the state and country. As comforting as that is, if one is the victim of a crime, statistics are meaningless. We can do better!

50 years ago La Crosse had a single Circuit Court with a Juvenile Court and an old jail on Zeisler St. Now we have five Circuit Courts and a modern jail is almost always full!

Part of this change is due to changes in society. We now consider drunken driving and battery of a spouse/significant other to be crimes. Child abuse and neglect and sexual assault are no longer taboo subjects where the victim hides in shame.

Other reasons for the increases in crime are there are twice as many people living in the County, the use of mind altering drugs has increased dramatically and is dealt with by the criminal justice system, people are more mobile and less rooted in their communities, and gangs.

Many of the same old problems persist too. Vandalism is more than soaping windows and or tossing toilet paper all over someone's yard.

Part of what makes a community livable is being safe!

Keeping up the neighborhood is more than just so things are clean and tidy; they give the people who live or visit there a sense of well being. People who keep their properties up are also more likely to keep an eye out for their neighbors, one of the best deterrents to crime known.

La Crosse communities have first rate police departments that do a fantastic job for their size and limited resources. They have taken the lead on neighborhood crime issues and can help individual citizens or whole neighborhoods.

Go to our What We Can Do About Crime Page for more information on how to prevent crime.