IT’S A TALE of two cities. Both have been in the papers lately. And not necessarily for great things. Crime has made the headlines.

One of the cities is Portland, Ore., which used to bring to mind coffee, cool nights and counterculture (the good kind). And the view of Mount Hood. And to a certain number of us, the Trail Blazers.

But lately, Portland just brings to mind what can go wrong if fellow travelers among the progressives get their complete way.

Last weekend, cops stood by as rioters paraded through downtown Portland, smashing store fronts and destroying property. Cops said they were handcuffed by new laws that prevent them from acting. In the latest news, authorities began putting out orange traffic barrels in high-crime areas to obstruct drive-by shootings. We’re not kidding.

Portland’s previous record year for murders was in 1987, when it had 66 homicides. It’s not even Halloween yet, but the city has already blown by that number.

“With police officer shortages, in a lot of areas, crime prevention units are disbanded,” Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, spokesperson for the National Police Association, told The Washington Examiner. “They have to take officers out of specialty units, like homicide and motor officers and all that kind of stuff, because the No. 1 priority of a police agency is a police officer in a patrol car to be able to respond to calls.”

This is what happens when the extremes get ahold of policy. And when defund-the-police groups get their way in the law.

Then there’s Little Rock.

Apolice chief we once knew said you could put the 101st Airborne out on city streets and still not prevent all crime.

That’s true. You couldn’t prevent all crime. But you know, having the 101st around would be a mighty deterrent for most crime.

Having more police patrolling the streets and neighborhoods almost always beats the alternative. There’s just not a lot of pick-pocketing going on in a precinct headquarters.

The mayor of Little Rock, Frank Scott, laid out a plan last week for addressing violent crime in his city. He announced that $1.5 million in federal money is going to the police department and for a new “community safety office.” It’s money from the American Rescue Plan out of Washington, and this is about as good a use for that money that we can think of.

(According to Grant Lancaster’s story, as of mid-October, police in Little Rock have seized 622 illegally owned weapons and arrested 420 people in connection to them. Whether the guns themselves are illegal, such as sawed-off shotguns, or whether the person is too young to have the gun, isn’t said. But look at what’s happened at various schools in the last month. Kids are getting guns on the streets. And using them.)

Mayor Scott will also put money into the Office of Neighborhood Safety, which will tackle the problem from the other end—before the violence occurs. He has put in charge Mr. Michael Sanders, who has a background in youth development. Bless him. Bless both of them. The job they’re taking on is a big one.

“In any city,” the mayor said, “violent crime is caused by a combination of social, structural and environmental conditions. This is not left to our Police Department to try to solve.”

But police are essential. The mayor acknowledged that, too, when he said current officers need a raise, the bonus paid to new recruits should be doubled, and oh, by the way, the city needs 100 more officers on the streets. This is the opposite of defund-the-police.

Citizens are “sick and tired of hearing gunshots in their neighborhood,” the mayor said.

He’s right as rain.

It appears as though Little Rock’s leaders are going to combat the crime problem. Or give it their best shot. Not every city can say that.