Detroit Crime Lab at Brush Park is closed and looted!

**stinkytofu** · May-27-11, 07:43 AM

This is both infuriating and terrifying...

http://www.freep.com/article/2011052...text|FRONTPAGE

**MidTownMs** · May-27-11, 07:59 AM

Why do you find this unbelievable? Given the history of the DPD and the rest of the City of Detroit offices.... COMPETENCE would be unbelievable.

**rjk** · May-27-11, 08:06 AM

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr., told about the crime lab Thursday, launched an immediate investigation. "I will make sure that this never happens again," he said.

It would have been better if he said someone is going to lose their job over this. It appears that with all the incompetence that takes place in the city no one fears any repercussions. When was the last time someone would be shocked by a story like this? A couple of decades ago?

**Det_ard** · May-27-11, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by MidTownMs

Why do you find this unbelievable? Given the history of the DPD and the rest of the City of Detroit offices.... COMPETENCE would be unbelievable.

This is so true. Name a Detroit department widely acknowledged as very well-run. [[Just because they haven't been on the front page YET doesn't mean they're competent.)

Detroit isn't capable of running Detroit.

**SWMAP** · May-27-11, 10:15 AM

The epic downward trajectory of Detroit, captured in a single story: abandoned by authority/owner; blight, careless incompetance; willful ignorance, no planning, no acceptance of on-going responsibilty for a building, a work, a history - there are just no adequate words to describe this.

Thank you again, Detroit Free Press. What would we do without you?

I have recently been thinking that i should send a letter to the President of the United States to say that things are a lot worse in Detroit than our leadership [[such as it is) is letting on. We citizens who pay taxes and hope for some future are being left in a wilderness of incompetance, lies, self-serving elected officials, corruption on a huge scale [[witness in just the month of May alone: the DPL, the Health Dept. the Human Services Department, yet another DPS embezzler); gangs, crime.

I wish this would all be decimated by a tornado or a hurricane. We need help.

**kraig** · May-27-11, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by SWMAP

The epic downward trajectory of Detroit, captured in a single story: abandoned by authority/owner; blight, careless incompetance; willful ignorance, no planning, no acceptance of on-going responsibilty for a building, a work, a history - there are just no adequate words to describe this.

Thank you again, Detroit Free Press. What would we do without you?

I have recently been thinking that i should send a letter to the President of the United States to say that things are a lot worse in Detroit than our leadership [[such as it is) is letting on. We citizens who pay taxes and hope for some future are being left in a wilderness of incompetance, lies, self-serving elected officials, corruption on a huge scale [[witness in just the month of May alone: the DPL, the Health Dept. the Human Services Department, yet another DPS embezzler); gangs, crime.

I wish this would all be decimated by a tornado or a hurricane. We need help.

Your first paragraph summed up the situation accurately, good job.

**Planner3357** · May-27-11, 11:19 AM

Would you expect anything less? Look at how the city leaves all of its abandoned buildings..i.e., schools.

This has nothing to do with anything...but I am so sick of the word "epic"....if I hear/see this word one more time I might flip the fuck out.

**Fnemecek** · May-27-11, 11:36 AM

Planner: That's an epic comment, my friend. Truly epic.

It's the most epic thing I've read all epic day.

Epic.

9mile&seneca · May-27-11, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by Fnemecek

Planner: That's an epic comment, my friend. Truly epic.

It's the most epic thing I've read all epic day.

Epic.

You Da Man!!!

**agirlintheD** · May-27-11, 11:57 AM

Business as usual. Just leave without tying up ANY loose ends. And NOBODY knew this building existed in this deplorable condition? Are you kidding? Everybody just up and left and nobody ever thought...hmmm...this might not be a good way to leave?? What the hell? My God, where is the accountability in any office in the city? Godbee says this will NEVER happen again. Heads should be rolling....feet to the fire. Every day it's some new story of corruption or cheating or stealing....when will enough be enough?

**Fnemecek** · May-27-11, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by 9mile&seneca

You Da Man!!!

Planner lives just a few blocks away from me. There's a part of me that worries he's going to show up on my doorstep this weekend.

And a part of me that looks forward to it. [[I'll just have my brother/roommate answer the door for a few days.)

9mile&seneca · May-27-11, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by Fnemecek

Planner: That's an epic comment, my friend. Truly epic.

It's the most epic thing I've read all epic day.

Epic.

That was epic smart assing.

**JBMcB** · May-27-11, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by SWMAP

I have recently been thinking that i should send a letter to the President of the United States to say that things are a lot worse in Detroit than our leadership [[such as it is) is letting on.

You could try the governor first. He has significantly less to deal with than the president. Of course, the governor can't create money out of thin air.

**fryar** · May-27-11, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by rjk

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr., told about the crime lab Thursday, launched an immediate investigation. "I will make sure that this never happens again," he said.

It would have been better if he said someone is going to lose their job over this. It appears that with all the incompetence that takes place in the city no one fears any repercussions. When was the last time someone would be shocked by a story like this? A couple of decades ago?

Just because he's the police chief, doesn't make him responsible for everything in the department.
Oh...wait...wrong thread...

**1KielsonDrive** · May-27-11, 01:30 PM

[QUOTE=JBMcB;247810]You could try the governor first. He has significantly less to deal with than the president. Of course, the governor can't create money out of thin air.[/QUOTE]

Of course you're speaking of Bush2 and Ronald Reagan? Oh, I forgot, they didn't create it out of thin air, they created it off books for war and gaming.

**1KielsonDrive** · May-27-11, 01:35 PM

What's unbelievable about this? How long have you been alive? How long have you been reading the papers? This is MO in Detroit. See the other thread here about the meter maid parking in two, not just one, but two handicap spaces for a lunch or break. When was the last time you went to the City County Building? How many times were you insulted after you were injured? Everything is normal in Detroit.

**JBMcB** · May-27-11, 02:23 PM

[QUOTE=1KielsonDrive;247837]

Originally Posted by JBMcB

Of course you're speaking of Bush2 and Ronald Reagan?

I'm talking about pretty much every executive administration for the last century.

Oh, I forgot, they didn't create it out of thin air, they created it off books for war and gaming.

And that makes no sense. The treasury creates money, the fed injects it into the economy or loans it back to the US by buying treasury bonds. Are you talking about Reagan laundering money to give to the contras? Or G.W. Bush being, in general, clueless about the economy?

**Lowell** · May-27-11, 03:03 PM

Reading this article with its finger-pointing and cries of surprise, brought to mind this famous exchange from the movie Casablanca:

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much.
[aloud]
Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!

Among the low points of the article is this it's-not-my-job:

"When the city closed its lab in Brush Park, the State Police opened its crime labs to receive material from the city," Collins [director of the Michigan State Police forensic science division] said, "but it was not responsible for removing items from the Detroit building."

Let's see... they shut down of an incompetent lab and then give no thought to what remains there, considering the incompetency that brought down the lab? May I help you pass your buck sire?

This has the potential unleash a string of costly re-openings of cases with possible exonerations of criminals due to lack of evidence.

What a mess! And not is is the blame.

**Danny** · May-28-11, 09:09 AM

In Detroit's Brush Park Area. The long closed Detroit Crime Lab at the former DPS elementary school building called Steven Foster School is been looted. There are lots of evidences either lost or stolen and tampered. Other lost evidences are also coated with months of water damage. How can the Detroit Police Dept. do something like that! If they want to close that facilty, they should have all the evidence moved to disclosed location, not to leave it on the open. Some of those evidences could clear a wrongful suspect's name or find real crime victims to the court of law.

Here's the souce http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/28052152/detail.html

Detroit Police Cheif Godfey, CLEAN UP YOUR MESS!

**davewindsor** · May-28-11, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

In Detroit's Brush Park Area. The long closed Detroit Crime Lab at the former DPS elementary school building called Steven Foster School is been looted. There are lots of evidences either lost or stolen and tampered. Other lost evidences are also coated with months of water damage. How can the Detroit Police Dept. do something like that! If they want to close that facilty, they should have all the evidence moved to disclosed location, not to leave it on the open. Some of those evidences could clear a wrongful suspect's name or find real crime victims to the court of law.

Here's the souce http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/28052152/detail.html

Detroit Police Cheif Godfey, CLEAN UP YOUR MESS!

Thread started on this yesterday
http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...petence-by-DPD...

**rjk** · May-28-11, 04:44 PM

Read Godbee's statement on Friday and the link below from todays Freep.
http://www.freep.com/article/2011052...text|FRONTPAGE

You can't make this stuff up.

**Jimaz** · May-28-11, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by davewindsor

Thread started on this yesterday
http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...petence-by-DPD...

But that thread's locked for some reason.

Was there any drug evidence stored there or would that have been stored elsewhere? I would imagine that would make it very attractive to trespassers.

**Fnemecek** · May-28-11, 07:05 PM

I noticed that the other thread was locked, too. I wonder why.

I did want to respond to a comment that Lowell made at the end of the locked thread.

Among the low points of the article is this it's-not-my-job:

"When the city closed its lab in Brush Park, the State Police opened its crime labs to receive material from the city," Collins [director of the Michigan State Police forensic science division] said, "but it was not responsible for removing items from the Detroit building."

Let's see... they shut down of an incompetent lab and then give no thought to what remains there, considering the incompetency that brought down the lab? May I help you pass your buck sire?

Just so everyone is clear, MSP did not shut down the crime lab; neither did the court or the county prosecutor. Ken Cockrel made that decision when he was interim mayor.

Since the City of Detroit made the decision to shut down its crime lab, it was the City's responsibility to either transfer the evidence to another facility or to ensure that everything that remained in the old DPD facility was properly secured. MSP offered to help. DPD decided to decline said offer.

The fact that DPD declined an offer does not transfer any culpability to MSP or anyone else outside of DPD. This matter is 100% DPD's responsibility.

100%

**401don** · May-28-11, 07:48 PM

I noticed that the other thread was locked, too. I wonder why.

Same thing happened a couple of weeks ago under 2011 Detroit Tigers in the Sports Section. Lowell was last to post and the thread closed. Guess I'll send him an e-mail.

**SWMAP** · May-28-11, 08:24 PM

I disagreed with Lowell's statement yesterday, as well. He appeared to be saying that the MSP is actually the villain in this disgusting mess- a very far reach has to be made to implicate the MSP.
I just want to know how Chief Godbee continues to have Bing's confidence? He is starting to look like a real idiot.