The Village of Keeseville did its citizens a service by providing space for the State Police to retain a substation there. Keeseville, perhaps more than any other community its size in the North Country, needs a police presence. Residents tell us that late nights there are laced with noise, vandalism and hooliganism.

Groups of rowdy teen-agers prowl looking for trouble -- or at least doing their level best not to avoid it.

The problem seems to be a lack of anything for young people to do. What is perhaps most confounding about this situation, however, is why is Keeseville any different from any other village in that regard? There is no more to do in Rouses Point, say, than Keeseville, yet it's most often Keeseville where we're hearing reports of chronic trouble. And just what is it that young people are itching to do at 3 a.m., anyway? It's the overnight forays that have residents on edge.

Some years ago, an elderly couple in the village was being accosted by a man high on drugs, trying to break into their house in the middle of the night, presumably to steal money to buy more drugs. While the husband held the door closed, desperately trying to keep the assailant outside, the frantic wife was phoning State Police.

At the time, the State Police had no substation in Keeseville. The closest one was in Plattsburgh; the closest cars were miles farther away.

The State Police did their best to get to the beleaguered and terrified couple, but, in spite of their best efforts, it took 40 minutes. Miraculously, the intruder never got inside the house and the couple survived. But it was a harsh warning that prompt help was not available throughout the vast, sparsely populated State Police Troop B in the North Country.

State Police established a substation in Keeseville, and it has been a godsend, although the troopers don't remain in Keeseville for the entire shift. They patrol wherever needed, as troopers from all stations and substations do. The fact of the troopers being stationed there, however, has had a calming effect, residents say.

Last week, that presence was threatened because the village thought it could no long afford to provide the building in which the substation's automobiles were kept. Now, in response to citizen concerens, the village has agreed to move its own vehicles around to continue to house the police patrol cars.

Keeseville can't afford -- and doesn't need -- to staff a police department, but it seems to need more than a few selected hours during the week.

Keeseville's history with drunks and thugs calls for a professional response. The State Police, even though not dedicated to the village full-time, has been a more effective deterrent than any of the alternatives we've heard.

Of all services funded by taxpayers, public safety is the people's choice. Citizens demand -- and deserve -- safety and calm.