President Kennedy saw "a man on the moon by the end of the decade." Rotary International saw the end of polio in the world.
Both were achieved.
We, Crestview’s Citizens of 2025, see ourselves living in Florida’s safest city.
How did we achieve our goal?
We started with Crestview Police Chief Tony Taylor’s Citizens Safety Academy.
Next, graduates selected the name, “We the People” and committed to actively look forward a decade each year and answer the question, "What does Florida’s safest city look like today?"
Over the years, 900 graduates spread out into every civic organization, resulting in a group of informed citizens able to speak about leading community safety issues.
Realizing that in 2014 every community was struggling with family violence, we changed the term to family terrorism. This removes any doubt that a screaming child who just experienced the remains of his father’s meth lab while brushing his teeth is a victim of pure terrorism.
Today, in our 10-year vision, marks the seventh consecutive year of declining incidences of "family terrorism" among Crestview’s families.
Our civic organizations are providing free membership to every high school and college or university student who completes the Citizens Safety Academy. These students, like the adults, are articulate speakers for the right of citizens to be at peace within their homes, communities and educational organizations.
Crestview’s Police Department and local attorneys offer an annual update on the responsibilities of holding a Florida’s Concealed Weapon or Firearm License.
No one in the Crestview area has been injured with a firearm owned by any of Florida’s 2 million license holders in the past nine years.
An ever-expanding number of Neighborhood Watch communities has reduced crime to include traffic violations and accidents, and dramatically enabled Crestview to become one of the most beautiful cities in Florida through neighborhood cleanup drives.
“We The People,” working to achieve the objectives of the Florida Bar Association’s Prepaid Legal Committee, helped Crestview citizens realize that legal services plans are available to them for less than a cup of coffee a day.
Our citizens are known for frequently responding, “Let me call my attorney!”
Join us here in 2025 and let’s discover all the steps we took to be Florida’s safest city.
Bob Hollingshead and his wife, Peggy, live in Crestview and are graduates of the Crestview Police Department's Citizens Safety Academy.
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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: GUEST COLUMN: Crestview's crime, or lack thereof, in 2025