The Tri-County area of South Carolina (Charleston, Berkley, and North Charleston) is home to a booming business economy, picturesque parks, and premier arts. More and more visitors flock to the Tri-County as the each region's reputation continues to grow. However, as the Lowcountry continues to see a rise in tourists, it has also seen a rise in violent crimes in the last couple of years.

For a couple of years now, crime has steadily tightened its grip on the Tri-County area. North Charleston reported 32 homicides in the past year, which was not only nine more than from 2015 but also marked the deadliest year in the city's recent memory. Along with Berkley and Charleston counties, there has been a total of 77 murders reported in the Tri-County area in 2016. Citizens living in these areas have expressed great concern over the rising murder rate. The area has also not been safe for visitors as a visitor was killed in North Charleston last year while walking his dog.

As more people continue to speak out about the violence, the murder rate has continued to rise and looks to follow in 2017. Unfortunately, things are not starting out too good for the Tri-County as just last week a man was killed in North Charleston around 1 a.m. on New Year's Day.

People in the area are searching for ways to stop the bleeding and make this area more peaceful. Groups consisting of city council members, men, or just citizens, in general, have formed in an effort to help lower the violence in the Tri-County.

But it will take much more than just a few people getting together to help fix this problem. As a resident of the Tri-County area, we need to do more to end the violence on our streets. We need to work on reaching out to those who might consider going on the wrong path and guide them to the right one. Something that can also help is if community involvement is promoted more often so we can get closer to one another and make our communities stronger. While it won't be easy to lower the violence in the Tri-County, if each community would continue to try coming together, it won't be impossible.