The impact of “blight” — or deteriorated residences and properties on neighborhoods and communities is an issue with which we have long suggested both voters and elected officials should concern themselves.

We have noted that blight infringes on the property values of neighbors, undermining their incentive to fully invest in their homes and businesses. We’ve expressed worries that this facet of blight in turn makes it much more challenging for communities to attract more investment — employers to bring the jobs and developers to build the housing that our families need for our region to thrive. We’ve bemoaned that blighted properties often are dangerous, posing a risk that other members of the community tempted to explore them — particularly children — could be seriously injured.

Recently, as reported in Monday’s edition of the Sun-Gazette, one of our township’s supervisors observed the very likely connection between blight and another aspect of public safety: crime.

This observation, we feel fits hand in glove with our own frequent observations.

Law-abiding homeowners and tenants do not want to live in neighborhoods with run-down eyesores. In turn, the homeowners and tenants left to inhabit such neighborhoods struggle with their own problems — struggles that lead to more frequent crime — sometimes, terribly enough, violent crime.

We do not believe anyone is suggesting that rigorous codes enforcement is some sort of “silver bullet” to prevent crime. But we are confident that it is an effective tool that augments the hard and demanding work our police and prosecutors do to make our street safer.

We also believe that our communities must use all the effective tools to make our streets safer. An engaged public that supports police, as we said in last weekend’s editorial, is one of the more important tools.

Providing neighborhoods free of blight attracts the men and women who make up that type of public — and is an important tool in its own right.