Left unchecked, thugs are like termites. They will quickly and quietly come into a neighborhood and eat away at the foundation of the community.

For the past two years or so, the Beaumont Street area of Natchez has been crumbling a bit because of a handful of criminals who terrorized many of the area’s residents.

Fortunately, the people who live in that area finally had had enough of being scared in their own neighborhood and said, “This must end.”

In the process, they reached out to the Natchez police and other city leaders for help.

The group collectively vowed to work hard and coordinate their efforts to drive the criminal element out of the area.

Residents in the Beaumont Street area recently reported the situation has vastly improved. The cause, they believe, is tied to more police visibility in the area.

The police suggest that’s only part of the solution. The bigger part, they suggest, is that residents who were fed up with the criminal activity got involved.

Residents began working with police to report things that looked suspicious or outright criminal.

That combination — residents and police working hand in hand — has been the key to great law enforcement efforts for years.

Beaumont Street’s results should be a good model for other parts of the city in which criminals currently find a home.

With some effort, we can drive many of them out of the community.