Be vigilant

There are many heroes who led to the arrest last week of a Kirkwood, Mo., man who has been charged with abducting two boys from rural Missouri. Among those an eyewitness who provided essential detailed information.

That observer was a teenager on the same school bus as Ben Ownby, who disappeared shortly after getting off the bus in Beaufort, Mo. Mitchell Hults saw a white pickup and took note of details that turned out to be crucial. A few days later, two Kirkwood police officers responding to a call at an apartment complex noticed a pickup matching Hults' description. They interviewed the owner, Michael Devlin, who was arrested after Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck, another boy abducted several years ago, were discovered in Devlin's apartment.

Without the detailed description, the officers would not have had a reason to question Devlin, and the families of the two missing boys might still be worrying about their fate.

The lesson here is that all of us play an important role in maintaining the safety of our communities. It is through our vigilance that would-be abductors and burglars are deterred. While too many of us don't know our neighbors, we can still watch out for them in small ways that can have huge consequences.

If we were all as observant and quick-witted as young Mitchell Hults, more criminals could be apprehended and, more importantly, more crimes could be prevented.