Feel-good policing

That's what we'd dub the effort announced yesterday to get residents involved in public safety in some neighborhood areas.

We call it "feel-good" because of the usual fairly happy talk of getting people involved through events like neighborhood barbeques and improving communication.

All that snarkiness aside, this plan comes with $93,000 in funding from a couple of different sources. That's good money for a neighborhood crime effort. It doesn't put more cops on the street (that's maybe one cop for a year, that kind of money), but hopefully it increase input and accountability in some neighborhoods that sorely need the help.

These programs can work in the long term once people get invested in the program. Hopefully this one takes root and helps. Shoot, it doesn't hurt.