If there is one place where one can argue that lawkeepers do not have enough power, it's Detroit.
I'm generally sympathetic to the Jean Valjean arguments. And when despicable things happen, such as the GPP Police incident with the developmentally disabled man or the DNR grafitti afficianado come to light, I'm the first to raise holy hell.
But to say that these victims of heavy-handed DNR enforcement should be eliminated from Belle Isle is the biggest understatement in the debate so far. Not only should they not be on Belle Isle, they shouldn't even be allowed out in public.
There's a lot that is broken in Detroit. It's a battlefield in every sense of the word. But you can't send medics out there unless they're safe, so the first thing you need to do is establish some standards for behavior.
There is a time and place to argue for the rights of the underprivileged and marginalized. And there's no shortage of those times and places in Detroit...whether it be schools failing kids, buses failing residents, etc.
But this isn't that time. You don't whistle your way out the door, trip over the sidewalk, and accidentally have your driver's license suspended 18 times.
The kicker is that I don't even have a problem with him being on Belle Isle! Just tell him to hitch a ride with a friend, take his bike, or drive illegally down Jefferson, park on Mt. Elliot, and walk onto the park.
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