Having grown up in Simi Valley, I know that public safety is paramount. We enjoy living in one of the safest cities in the nation because our citizens actively partner in maintaining that safety, but we should never rest on past accomplishments.

Our city’s crime prevention task force, which I co-chair, was recently briefed by our police department on current city crime statistics.

The good news is Part 1 crime (burglaries, assaults, arson, theft, auto theft, robbery, rape and homicide) is down from a year ago. In fact, these Part 1 crimes are down 13.6 percent over the past five years.

The disturbing news, however, is that graffiti is at an all-time high in Simi Valley.

As a result, the entire City Council has put a high priority on eliminating this blight in our community with a zero-tolerance policy and stepped up police enforcement with increased fines and liabilities.

These efforts have provided immediate success with the recent arrests of suspects in two separate incidents, both reported to the police by alert citizens.

The suspects were additionally connected to several other incidents of graffiti in the area by their tags. It should be noted that the vast majority of the graffiti we are experiencing today is tagger-type and not gang related.

Most of this graffiti is committed by young people who are not self-directed and/or who feel a need for destructive behavior. It is vital to keep our youths involved in positive, characterbuilding activities, which is why we need to be supportive of our community’s youth programs.

I believe these programs are one of our biggest crime prevention tools, and we should thank the parents and volunteers that get involved in these programs for the benefit of our kids and our community.

Another tool to help reduce graffiti is our Neighborhood Watch program, which the crime prevention task force has recommended be reinvigorated through our Neighborhood Councils. The idea of residents looking out for each other in their neighborhoods is something we need to embrace.

But we still need everyone’s help. It takes a community working together to improve the quality of life for all.

Graffiti is one of the toughest crimes to catch, but with the help of alert citizens reporting suspicious behavior we can make a real difference. You can also help by reporting graffiti to the city’s graffiti hotline at (805) 583-6444. Our policy is to remove any graffiti within 24 hours.

Simi Valley has always rallied together in times of need to help our community whenever adversity has faced us.

I am asking you to get involved and help our police, our City Council and our community in eliminating graffiti, because Simi Valley deserves the best.

Sojka is a member of the Simi Valley City Council.