Cathy Keim: Strong families help our city thrive

At the City Council candidate debate on Feb. 19, one of the questions posed to contenders was whether Police Chief Barbara Duncan's request for 30 more officers should be supported. The responses revealed a deep divide in our community.

The District 1 candidates felt that rather than hiring more police, we should get to the root of the matter by funding after-school programs to stop kids from joining gangs and committing crimes in the first place.

The District 2 candidates uniformly felt that more police officers to deter and incarcerate would be a good idea, if the money could be raised to pay ...