Believe it or not, crime is more prevalent now that it was 50 years ago because of some of your friends and neighbors.

Before you start throwing up objections, hear us out.

As a society, we’ve become less attentive to the community around us; after all, we have text messages to answer, satellite radio stations to surf and a life to attend to.

It’s not like the good ole days in Mayberry when folks sat out on the porch and watched the world slowly pass.

In addition, a segment of our society is hesitant, even afraid, to report trouble when they see it.

The result is that hundreds of well-meaning, non-criminals may be enabling the bad guys.

Just look at four recent car burnings, for example.

These fires — which fire officials believe were intentionally set — occurred in either apartment complex parking lots or neighborhoods.

Plenty of eyes were likely around to notice something suspicious, even if the crime did occur in the wee hours of the night.

Someone knows something.

As a community, we have to stop pointing fingers at a select group of folks we think may be troublemakers, stop faulting the police and start opening our eyes and being willing to help.

It’s up to all of us to make our community a better place.