NATCHEZ &8212; Solutions to a problem aren&8217;t always easy to come by, especially when illegal activity is involved.

A group of concerned citizens gathered in a Prince Street community daycare classroom Thursday night in an attempt to fix the reoccurring neighborhood problems.

The Woodlawn area, located off of Martin Luther King Jr. Street, has been experiencing drug and violence problems lately that have always been an issue, Natchez Police Chief Mike Mullins said.

&8220;This is an area with a lot of foot traffic where we have had some problems,&8221; Mullins said. &8220;We need to find a way to get officers out here on foot at least once an hour.&8221;

The police force currently employs 48 sworn officers including Mullins, he said.

&8220;We don&8217;t have the people we have had in the past, and that&8217;s an issue,&8221; Mullins said.

Mullins said he would be willing to add patrols to the area if he could get funding for the officers.

The neighborhood residents made up almost half the crowd in the room, while Adams County

officials and alderman made up the other.

Solutions to the problems offered by members of the room included keeping the area well lit, adding officers patrolling the area on foot, and more vehicle patrolling of the area where crowds are gathering.

&8220;Community policing where people are working together and planning with the law would work if people would get behind this,&8221; Mullins said. &8220;It has worked to get crime down in this area for the past ten years.&8221;

Alderman continued to express the problems needing immediate attention.

&8220;I found a man laying out in the street who said he had been shot in the foot and needed some help,&8221; Ward 2 Alderman Rickey Gray said. &8220;We need to come up with a plan to alleviate some of these problems in this neighborhood.&8221;

Alderman Joyce Mathis also was in attendance of the meeting, offering help to the problem.

&8220;We must have a systematic plan to stop the problems in this area of town,&8221; Mathis said. &8220;Bullets don&8217;t have names. We got kids out here playing, and gunshots sounding right down the street.&8221;

The problem, which needs backing from all areas of the Woodlawn area, needs to be addressed and solved as quickly as possible, Gray said.

&8220;All I&8217;m asking is to beef up patrol of the area,&8221; Gray said. &8220;It just needs it, we have a serious problem. The people that live in this community are fed up and tired of this going on.&8221;