Detroit: Vigilante justice is now in vogue as city cuts back on cops
theGRIO REPORT - After being compared to Bosnia, Sarajevo, Beirut, Afghanistan, and various other war zones, lately Detroit is being compared to the Wild West...
DETROIT – Over the last 40 years, the city of Detroit has had numerous unflattering comparisons made in terms of its long-standing issues with violent crime. After being compared to Bosnia, Sarajevo, Beirut, Afghanistan, and various other war zones, lately Detroit is being compared to the Wild West.
A prime example of the senseless violence came on Jan. 31 when 12-year-old Kade’jah Davis was killed after her mother got into a dispute with a 19-year-old and his mother over a cell phone. Joshua Brown confronted 34-year-old Almanda Talton over a cell phone at her home on Detroit’s west side.
When Talton closed her front door after arguing with Brown, he allegedly fired five shots into the house, killing Davis — who was laid to rest on Friday. Brown’s 35-year-old mother was charged as accessory as she drove her son to and from the home.
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In the first month of 2012, there were 38 homicides in Detroit, second to only Chicago (40) in terms of major U.S. cities. According to the FBI and Michigan State Police, there were 344 murders in Detroit last year, a 15 percent increase from 2010.
Detroit is one of four cities in Michigan that are in the infamous “Most Dangerous Cities” list. The other three are Flint, Saginaw, and Pontiac which, along with Detroit, run along a 200-mile stretch of I-75. Flint, which is 75 miles north of Detroit and has just over 100,000 residents, had 57 reported murders, which were down from a record 66.
Flint has the third highest violent crime rate in the country — trailing St. Louis and Saginaw, which is 30 miles north — and is second in overall murder rate behind only St. Louis. Of the 344 murders in Detroit last year, nearly 10 percent of those were considered “justifiable” homicides that involved people protecting property or their own lives.
It’s apart of an equally disturbing trend that is growing in the Motor City where citizens are legally arming themselves to protect against crime. Vigilante justice, for years decried by police departments and federal agencies, is starting to make a distinct comeback in Detroit.
A high-ranking Wayne County official told The Daily that the rise in justifiable homicides and vigilante justice is a reflection of the court system that is starting to turn a blind eye to it.
“It’s a lot more acceptable now to get your own retribution,” the official said. “And the justice system in the city is a lot more understanding if people do that. It’s becoming a part of the culture.”
All over the city, Detroiters are starting to arm themselves with firearms and buying guard dogs. The city’s well-documented issues with unemployment (estimated at between 20 and 25 percent) and the massive deficit that has led to deep cuts in the numbers of police officers has exacerbated the crime issues and led to residents taking up arms.
“It’s like the militiamen who stepped up way back when,” James Jackson, a 63-year-old retired Detroit police officer, who has personally patrolled the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood on the city’s Southeast side for years. “They’re ready to fight. We don’t hardly see police anymore.”
The issues between the police and the citizens of Detroit are well known. The common narrative in the city is that the police refuse to show up or selectively show up to emergency calls, which is far from the case.
As recently as 2001, Detroit had nearly 5,000 police officers citywide. Thanks to years of retirements, resignations, and downsizing, the number has dropped to around 2,000.
Factoring in disabled officers, desk officers, police working special events and sporting events, and officers who have off days, vacation time, and sick days, the number drastically dwindles leading to potential mayhem.
“Instead of laying off officers, once these people retire, we’re not allowed to replace them,” a veteran DPD officer said last August. “It’s not quite as bad as laying people off, but we don’t have people to back us up. But even when we were hiring, there were not enough who were able to meet the criteria.
“When it comes to the average citizens, it’s like a double-edged sword. A lot of times they’re happy to see us, but at the same time, they’re not. You’ve got the people who called, and we get the run five minutes ago. Problem is, the person called three hours ago.”
Some Detroit neighborhoods, such as East Indian Village, Sherwood Forest, and Boston-Edison, have hired private security firms to patrol neighborhoods in lieu of police patrols. Residents pay a monthly fee ranging from $10 to $200 per month for the armored patrols.
“We’re booming,” said Dale Brown, the owner of Threat Management Group. His company, along with Recon Security, makes armed patrols around neighborhoods like Palmer Woods on the city’s west side in black Hummers.
“We’re paramilitary, but we’re positive”, Brown told The Daily. “I’m not a vigilante. I’m an agent of change.”
The biggest changes to come continue to be with the funding, or lack thereof, to police officers. The issues of citizens waiting hours — even days — for help has been due in large part to the dwindling number of officers.
“We’ve had dispatchers giving us other runs,” the veteran officer said in August. “Police runs are based on priority. I don’t know that I’m right down the street from a house that was broken into because I’m on my way to a (domestic dispute) run.”
The city is staring down an emergency financial manager takeover and has faced heavy criticism for consistently cutting public safety funding. On Friday, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing reached a tentative agreement with the Detroit Police Unions in an attempt to avert a takeover.
“The police unions and my administration have negotiated a tentative agreement which provides much needed savings, but does not sacrifice public safety,” Bing said in a statement late Friday.
The deal calls for an across-the-board wage freeze until 2015, increases in health care co-pays, and overtime restrictions. The tentative agreement is another major step in achieving the necessary structural changes and cost-saving measures to resolve the city’s financial crisis, Bing said in a released statement.
There is no word on if or when the unions will vote to ratify the deal, but the city is facing a potential wild, wild west situation in the meantime.
“Anytime a life is lost, we’re concerned,” said Sgt. Eren Stephens, the DPD spokeswoman. “But we can’t be on every corner in front of every home. And we know that there are citizens who will do what they have to do to protect themselves.”
There are recent incidents that have shown the residents taking the law into its own hands, working with the police, and it paying off, including a Southwest Detroit neighborhood taking down a drug dealer who had spent nearly 10 years terrorizing their streets.
However, for others such as Kevin Early, who lived in Rosedale Park on the cities Northwest side, he had to wait for help from neighbors when he was brazenly robbed on his porch. After reasoning with the muggers for 20 minutes, he ran for his life.
“All I could think of was my daughter coming home,” said Early, who is the director of the criminal justice studies program at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. “I didn’t want her to see me shot dead.”
The city is mobilizing to protect itself and its own people, but the crime rate continues to grow and force out lifelong residents. The police are doing their best to help, and still insist on people not taking the law into their own hands.
Early eventually hired Threat Management, but it was to protect him as he joined the nearly quarter-million others who have left Detroit in the last 12 years. “Where else do the police come to your house after you’ve been robbed and ask you, ‘Why did you call us?’”
Follow Jay Scott Smith on Twitter at @JayScottSmith
