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Gone are the days of leaving homes and vehicles unlocked, letting children walk to friend's houses, and trusting people you don't know. Crime rates are rising and it's not just in the big cities. Big city crime affects small towns, like Dodgeville. I grew up in the country, stayed home alone, rode my bike down the road, and never thought about anything bad happening. Now, only 15 years later, I would hope people are not letting their children do the things I did growing up.
Crimes, especially shootings, in the Madison area, seem to be in the news every week. It's scary because it seems like people are always fleeing to this area when they have committed a crime in Madison. We have had murder suspects and bank robbers caught right here in Dodgeville. They may not have committed the crimes here, but they were caught here. If they would have had weapons and decided to become hostile, that would have taken place here.
Another rising crime that seems to be in the news constantly is heroin. According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, "the number of heroin cases statewide more than doubled between 2008 and 2011." A little over five months into 2012 there was a reported 221 heroin cases. The heroin problem in Madison seems to be spreading and getting closer and closer to home.
Sauk County reported that they have had more heroin deaths in their county than traffic fatalities. When I think of drug crimes and dealers, I stereotypically think the slum areas of big cities like New York or Chicago, not Madison or the outskirts of Madison. I sure don't think Dodgeville. But the way things are going, I think the crimes and drug problems Madison is facing will soon reach us.
It's scary to think about the difference in the world I grew up in compared to what kids face now and I'm only 22. I would love to say there is a magical cure to crime, or a way to make all the crime and drugs go away, but I don't think there is. While there's law enforcement and ways of controlling it, I think the rate at which crime and drugs is expanding is too large for enforcements to keep up with.
Hard economic times drive some people to desperate measures. It has been proven that crime rates increase when the economy is bad, but I never imagine it so close to home. Granted, it hasn't quite reached Dodgeville completely, and I hope it never does, but our proximity to Madison seems like bad news to me.