Dagnan doesn’t just run a police force, but also the town’s crossing guards and its taxi service. His community also has a 16 percent Hispanic community. Four of his officers speak fluent Spanish, but he says the dialects sometimes differ so that communication is a big problem in his town.

Roberts has put together a special enforcement team that has been meeting with bar owners in an effort to reduce problems seen in some of Joplin’s bar districts. Increased enforcement, he says, has also helped reduce some of the downtown problems blamed on cruising.

Drugs, particularly meth, continue to be a problem, say all the chiefs.

It was an interesting exchange of thoughts and ideas and, in some cases, it opened our eyes to the challenges of these four administrators.

It takes a lot more than a badge to fight crime these days.

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New Joplin R-8 Superintendent C.J. Huff will meet Monday with the Globe’s editorial board for the first time since his hire. He took over the position on July 1, after Jim Simpson left for a superintendent’s position in a school district near St. Louis.

Gubernatorial contenders Kenny Hulshof and Sarah Steelman, both Republican candidates vying for a spot on the November ballot, will meet with the Globe’s editorial board later this month.

If you have questions for visitors to the editorial board, please e-mail them to cstark@joplinglobe.com. Or, you may mail your questions to me.

Carol Stark is editor of The Joplin Globe. Address correspondence to her, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802 or e-mail cstark@joplinglobe.com.