DETROIT – For thousands of cities around the United States, Halloween is a time for parties, candy, trick-or-treaters, and people wearing very interesting costumes. In the city of Detroit, it is a call to action to help prevent the return of a very unfortunate tradition: Devil’s Night.
“We’ve been prepping, literally, for months,” said Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee.
“We’re not taking anything for granted. Our police department is at full deployment. Unless you’re on restricted days or on an authorized vacation, all leave days are cancelled for everybody in the police department.”
The night — and in some cases, weekend — surrounding Halloween has become synonymous with vandalism and destruction in the Motor City dating back to the 1970s. What was once known as “Mischief Night”, where kids and some adults around the city would pull largely harmless pranks and acts of vandalism on Oct. 30, became a night of arson-filled mayhem in post-riot Detroit that eventually gave the night its devilish moniker.
The Devil’s Night chaos reached its peak in October 1984 where in the three-day Halloween period, Oct. 29-31, there were more than 800 fires across the city. The pre-Halloween carnage, which was almost exclusive to Detroit, attracted both national and international attention and has become one of the most enduring black eyes to the city’s legacy.
While some in the city have used the night as a badge of honor — the Detroit hip-hop group D-12 named their 2001 debut album “Devil’s Night” — residents see those times as one of the great shames upon the area. After a particularly brutal Devil’s Night in 1994, then-Detroit mayor Dennis Archer instituted what is now known as “Angel’s Night”.
Angel’s Night is a cooperative effort between law enforcement, the fire department, and the community that has set up patrols to prevent arson, violence, and vandalism during the three-day Halloween period. It has led to a stark decline in arson fires since its institution 16 years ago.
“Traditionally, since we’ve been in this (Angel’s Night) mode, this is the safest three-day period of the year in the city,” said Godbee, who was speaking at a Big Brothers, Big Sisters event on Saturday night. “I heard a city councilperson say we need to make Angel’s Night 365, because we have that type of community involvement, people are out, eyes and ears, police and non-police, Detroit residents and non-Detroit residents, everybody’s looking out for each other.
“It promotes a level of safety that where if anybody has any anticipation of doing anything wrong — whether it be arson related or not — we’ve got enough resources and eyes and ears out to really respond to the problem.”
The relationship between the residents and police, which has not always been the most cordial, has seen the beef squashed to help protect the streets. The volunteer effort includes help from numerous agencies and corporate sponsorships, including Ilitch Holdings (which owns the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings, and Little Caesar’s Pizza), Quicken Loans, the United Auto Workers, and nearly 100 others.
“It really has turned into a wonderful community building event,” Godbee said. “It gives us an opportunity to go around the city, engage with our neighbors, see what type of things that churches and nonprofits do everyday that probably never get noticed.
“We couldn’t do this without the residents. We tend to take a lot of credit as public officials, but at this time in the city, you look at groups like Detroit 300, you look at Made Men, Brothers on Patrol, Green Acres Community Group, Grandmont-Rosedale, East English Village, people in Detroit are starting to get energized about their role in public safety and it’s making a difference.”
“I do remember the years when we were going from fire to fire,” said 62-year-old Calvin Colbert of Detroit, a member of Brothers on Patrol. “For the last two years, the deterrence is in place, and people know there are going to be a number of people out patrolling. That deters individuals from trying to do arsons.”
“It is the responsibility of the residents to create a safe environment. The solution and answer is you.”
During Angel’s Night, there is a citywide curfew banning kids 17 and under from being outside without adult supervision after 6 p.m., starting Oct. 29. It is also illegal to pump gasoline into portable containers or to carry any flammable liquid until midnight tonight.
The only exception is in emergency situations for anyone over the age of 18 where gas is needed for a stalled vehicle, heating your home, or using an emergency generator.
“We get a chance to showcase our city for three days in a positive light,” said Godbee, a 25-year DPD veteran who has been chief since 2009. “Something that used to be one of the most horrific things, where media would come from across the world to watch the city burn, I think we’ve turned the corner on that. But we can’t be complacent either.”
“If you look at some of the economic issues in the city, the foreclosure problem, a number of vacant and abandoned structures, we have to make sure that we stay vigilant and not allow those images to reoccur. It’s really a precursor so many of our young people on Monday evening can go out, much like we did when we were kids, and trick-or-treat.”
On a typical day in Detroit, according to fire officials, there are 20 to 30 arson fires in the city. During last year’s Angel’s Night, there were 169 arson fires. That was an increase from 119 in 2009, which was a slight decrease from the 136 fires in 2008.
Last night, which was officially “Devil’s Night”, saw swarms of patrol vehicles across the city. At the Northwest Activities Center on Meyers Road in northwest Detroit, DTE Energy employees gathered early in the evening to begin patrols. At churches, schools, and community centers around Detroit and Highland Park, everyday citizens, along with law enforcement, were roaming the streets.
There were fires and minor disturbances. Just after 6:45 p.m. on Greeley Street on Detroit’s east side, a vacant house was set ablaze by a group of teens. Just after 9:30 p.m., another abandoned house on the corner of 14th and Indiandale Streets near Rosa Parks Boulevard was burned and quickly extinguished by firefighters.
The total number of fires for the weekend will not be known until later today, but the numbers appear to be down. On Saturday night, the first night of patrols, there were just 18 fires with no injuries or deaths reported according to Mayor Dave Bing’s office. On a typical Saturday night, there are 26 fires.
The preliminary numbers are a huge departure from the hundreds of arson fires that used to plague Detroit. A long with the street patrols, people sat on porches with their lights on, and drove through neighborhoods with trucks and flashing lights.
“I’m seeing cop cars all over the place, plus the (civilian) cars with lights on them,” said Louis Brown of Highland Park.
Brown’s neighborhood was especially under the gun since the city of Highland Park had many of its streetlights removed after failing to pay their electric bills. The Highland Park Police, Detroit Police, and Wayne County Sheriff’s Department also helped patrol the darkened neighborhoods.
Detroit has also found help in other neighboring cities such as Southfield, Dearborn, Livonia, and Hamtramck. Godbee said that he has said that if needed – and he anticipates that the help will not be needed – he could count on help from the city’s neighbors.
”(Detroit Fire Department Commissioner) Donald Austin reached out to our suburban neighbors to talk about mutual aid in the event we need it,” Godbee said. “Just to have the conversation really changes the dynamics of this area. We’re moving away from being as polarized as we have been in the past.”
After a summer that saw a spike in violent crime in June and July, Godbee understands the importance of keeping the streets safe heading into the Christmas season.
“We had a rough period this summer,” Godbee said. “But overall, we’ve reduced violent crime in the city. We’ve reduced property crime in the city – we have fewer resources than my predecessor chiefs – but we’re still making strides in the right direction. You can’t do that without an involved community.”
Godbee is involved in more ways than one. He was out on patrol with his fellow officers during Angel’s Night, as apart of the “all hands on deck” approach to the initiative that looks to help the city continue to shake its checkered past and begin to help the city truly rebound.
“I think people, to a person, whether they’re in the inner city, whether they’re in the suburbs, whether they’re in the tri-county area are starting to realize that a healthy Detroit means a healthy state of Michigan,” Godbee said. “It seems to be a different tone and tenor in the area.”