Shock and awe for all in the Valley

The cold-blooded killing of Youngstown police officer Michael T. Hartzell in the wee hours of April 29 was shocking. The participation of more than 100 law enforcement types in the manhunt was awesome.
Youngstown will never be the same. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Hartzell was shot at point blank range as he sat in his cruiser at the red light at West Federal Street and Vindicator Square. The 26-year-old cop was on his way to police headquarters to drop off reports of a shooting around midnight outside the Casaloma Gardens on Mahoning Avenue.
Martin L. Koliser Jr. of Boardman has been charged with aggravated murder in Hartzell's death and with the attempted murder of Donell J. Rowe at the Casaloma Gardens. Koliser was captured in Florida and is to be brought back to Ohio this week. He will face the criminal charges in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
By sheer coincidence, the victim and the killer ended up at the same place that fateful morning. But it was Hartzell's decision to run a license plate check on the car that Koliser was reportedly driving that became the officer's death warrant.
The randomness of the killing makes it all the more brutal -- and, yes, shocking. But he will not have died in vain.
The Youngstown Police Department will no doubt conduct a review of the procedures used in situations such as the one Hartzell found himself in. There is also every reason to believe that Police Chief Robert Bush will evaluate the training his men and women receive to look for any shortcomings.
Such an examination is necessary and worthwhile.
With regard to the awesome show of force by law enforcement, the message was powerful in its simplicity: Kill a cop and your days are numbered.
Homicide rates
For Youngstown residents who have had to live with record high homicide rates, gunbattles in neighborhoods streets between rival drug gangs and the recent shooting death of 3-month-old Jiyen C. Dent Jr., the police dragnet was a sight to behold.
There are certain professions that have underlying danger: law enforcement; firefighting; military service; journalism. The death of a police officer, a firefighter, a soldier or a war correspondent in the line of duty is to be mourned, but should not come as a total surprise.
On the other hand, being a law-abiding citizen -- or a baby in a swing in his parents' living room -- should not be a life-threatening proposition. Yet, that's what it is in too many instances in Youngstown. Living in the city has become inherently dangerous.
If the death of a police officer can bring such a strong reaction from law enforcement, the killing of a baby, or the shooting of an elderly woman simply trying to stop juveniles from making her life a living hell deserve a similar response.
Why shouldn't the criminals who have held the city hostage for so long know that the next victim who is not part of their blood-thirsty enterprise will bring 100 police officers, deputy sheriffs, federal agents and the like to the streets of Youngstown?
Indeed, that was the way the FBI dealt with organized crime during its heyday in the Mahoning Valley. The feds put out the word that as long as mobsters killed each other, there wouldn't be any major law enforcement crackdown. However, the moment an innocent got caught in the cross fire, every racketeer would become a target.
That's how it should be in the city with the gangbangers. If they want to go into a field somewhere and shoot it out, so be it. But as soon as they invade the space of honest, law-abiding citizens, they should feel the effects of law enforcement's might.
A temporary memorial has been created near the spot where Hartzell was shot. That's a good thing.
Jiyen C. Dent also deserves a memorial -- at least in our minds. He was sitting in a swing in his parents' living room. Being a child in Youngstown should not be a dice roll. But it is. Jiyen isn't the first innocent to be gunned down.
Where is the outrage, and where are the tears, from individuals responsible for the health, safety and welfare of the citizens?
Where is the community uprising?
Patrolman Hartzell did not deserve to die -- and neither did Jiyen.
It is now up to Mayor George McKelvey and others in government to ensure they don't become mere statistics.
Their clarion call should be, "No more."