If you think Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield’s cowboy hat was just for show, you’d better think again.

Mayfield is on track to follow through with his campaign promise of aggressively going after the drug problem in Adams County.

The talkative Mayfield, in office for less than four months, hasn’t just talked the talk; he and his crew have walked the walk, netting numerous drug arrests.

Mayfield and the joint city and county Metro Narcotics Task Force have gone full bore at drug interdiction in the area.

The sheriff acknowledges that approximately 80 percent of all crime in the area is connected in some way to drug use or sales.

So it’s obvious the work is long overdue and more than a little dangerous.

Drug dealers are armed to the hilt and many of them are ready for a fight, too.

We applaud the work of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Natchez Police Department and Natchez-Adams Metro Narcotics Task Force for their work to start the unpleasant and dangerous task of removing drug dealers off our streets.

Now, we hope the judicial system will uphold their end and, if suspects are found guilty, levy the maximum sentence allowed.

But law enforcement cannot do it alone. They need the help of everyday citizens to help solve crimes — from simple cases of illegal drug sales to complicated cases such as the unsolved homicides in Fenwick earlier this year.

We need to show drug dealers — and other criminals — that our community isn’t a welcome place for them.

If they doubt it, just tell them to ask the man in the cowboy hat.