Last week's brush with crime-spree notoriety is all the closer that Chadron State College and the rest of the small northwestern Nebraska community ever want to get to big-city crime.

Five armed robbery suspects, two of whom walked away from a corrections facility in Montana, were arrested Oct. 11 following a four-state run of robberies, including one at the State Line Casino near Chadron. The spree began Tuesday in Butte, Mont., and ended at mid-day Thursday in Chadron after a massive manhunt was mounted by an impressive array of law enforcement agencies.

Response to the potentially lethal situation was overwhelming and effective, beginning with a post-midnight lockdown of the Chadron State College campus in a door-to-door sweep of the dormitories where about 700 students live.

Parents of CSC students appreciated the quick response by college authorities and police. In light of the Virginia Tech tragedy this spring. it was a prudent precaution to take.

Nebraska law enforcement agencies blockaded all roads out of Chadron and issued a voluntary request for people to stay inside and off the streets, essentially turning a town of 5,600 people into a ghost town until the suspects were apprehended at midday Thursday. Public school classes in Chadron and surrounding towns were cancelled and businesses were asked not to open.

For Chadron, the fact that the suspects, who were armed and dangerous, were arrested without any loss of life was gratifying. So was the impressive cooperation and coordination between multiple city, county, state and federal agencies that responded to the incident. Among the many agencies that played a role in the capture was the Special Response Team from the Pennington County Sheriff's Office and Rapid City Police Department.

Thankfully, Thursday's incident ended without tragedy. Lives were interrupted and inconvenienced, but none were lost. Because of the swift and professional response of so many resources, more violence was averted.

For a small town police department, especially one that has been criticized for its investigation into last year's mysterious disappearance and unsolved death of Chadron State College assistant math professor Steven Haataja, Thursday was a very good day.

We hope peace and quiet descends on Chadron and its citizens once again.