Last week, Natchez Police Chief Walter Armstrong gave a piece of unsolicited advice that, if heeded, would make our community far safer and productive.

After Natchez Police Department investigators arrested three juveniles and charged them with a series of car burglaries in the area, Armstrong’s sage advice rang true.

“If I could give one piece of advice to this community, it would be to family members and loved ones: Get control of your kids,” he said.

We are glad he said this, and we hope the parents who need to hear this actually do.

For far too long young people in Natchez — mostly teenagers, but some younger still — have turned to a mischievous life of crime, often without their parents’ apparent knowledge.

Through the last few years, many, many lives have been changed forever due to juveniles engaging in criminal activity.

Whether it is petty crimes such as opening unlocked cars and rifling through looking for something valuable or shooting guns at one another. The crime problem among young people here is real and disturbing.

And it must stop.

We are hopeful through aggressive but fair law enforcement work, our community can continue to stop and perhaps ultimately deter some of these crimes.

But as Armstrong suggests, the best method for slowing this nonsense is at the family level.