Crime in Recent Weeks/Months... Worse Than "Normal"?

[dtowncitylover]

This is about the young girl who was the wrong target for a drive by, was shot and died I believe Monda night....did anyone see the Channel 4 interview with her mother? What an odd interview, she didn't seem sad, in fact you could as plain as day that she was trying to hide a smirk, I didn't like her appearance.

I just wanted to rant, really. But yes, there has seemed to be a rise in perhaps covered murders and it makes me lose hope...fast.

[devman1983]

My answer, if I could pull the rabbit out of the hat, would be to unify the metropolitan public safety forces. A sizeable chunk of that total force [including federal, state and county as well], is essentially getting cats out of trees and busting kids for pot. That is a deliberate exaggeration, but it is true that there are many 'peaceful' areas from which 'troops' could be spared and redeployed to high crime areas and sent marching "toward the sound of fire." A singular metropolitan force could enable such a distribution of force..

I've talked to some of my suburban police friends and they look at me in disbelief when I mention this idea. It sounds great to me. I've always thought about combining the local police forces and distributing as needed. Sounds like a winner to me. Too bad I don't see any regional cooperation in the near future. Maybe if Detroit goes into receivership and really starts collapsing on itself will the state government do something drastic.

For public consumption, the distressed areas should be re-branded as terrorist strongholds and dealt with the same concern and expense being applied 10000 miles away in Afghanistan. Every crime should those zones be investigated by detectives and rewards offered for apprehension of every violent criminal. The forces and means to resolve the criminal situation are present. What seems to be missing is the will. "Oh, it's their problem" needs to be replaced with "It's our problem."

Very well put. Again, seems like the logical thing to do when we have a situation like our Detroit. First step in the rebuilding of Detroit is to rid the area of the bad seeds. Education & culture can be put on hold while we try to get rid of the inner-city terrorists.

[REL]

A unified regional city/county police force is the rumored reason behind Sherriff Evans moving to the DPD. Chew on that.

[REL]

This is about the young girl who was the wrong target for a drive by, was shot and died I believe Monda night....did anyone see the Channel 4 interview with her mother? What an odd interview, she didn't seem sad, in fact you could as plain as day that she was trying to hide a smirk, I didn't like her appearance.

Huh? This interview?
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/20570204/index.html

If we watched the same interview, I have no idea what you mean. She seems like a mother who is getting over the shock of losing her daughter in a random act of violence. Did I watch the wrong one?

[dtowncitylover]

Huh? This interview?
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/20570204/index.html

If we watched the same interview, I have no idea what you mean. She seems like a mother who is getting over the shock of losing her daughter in a random act of violence. Did I watch the wrong one?

Well, you gave me the clip about Landry, whose a white male. And I'm not taking about the young woman from Davisburg who was killed by a 12 yr old. The young girl I'm referring to was the victim of a drive-by, but she was the wrong target.

This one:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/20552882/index.html

The mother comes in at about the 1:14 mark, but it's about 1:35, I'm talking about. I'm sure the mother is sad and we all express our feelings in our own ways, but she her body language gets to me.

[NoHeartAnthony]

I've talked to some of my suburban police friends and they look at me in disbelief when I mention this idea. It sounds great to me. I've always thought about combining the local police forces and distributing as needed. Sounds like a winner to me. Too bad I don't see any regional cooperation in the near future. Maybe if Detroit goes into receivership and really starts collapsing on itself will the state government do something drastic.

They look at you in disbelief because it's an awful idea. Suburban cops are actually doing police work, cutting off crime before it happens. And it's working.

[lilpup]

I'm just sick of people thinking the Tigers will cheer up the city. Even if we won the WS, it's temporary excitement. You still wake up the next morning with the same circumstances that you had before.

No one is suggesting winning sports teams solve all the problems in the world, but they can be a major source of hope to get through tough times and a positive shared focus point for people who otherwise have little in common and probably wouldn't even interact with each other.

And you've obviously forgotten [[or aren't aware) of the stellar example of the 1968 Tiger season.

[crawford]

And you've obviously forgotten [[or aren't aware) of the stellar example of the 1968 Tiger season.

...Which was exactly concurrent with the most breathtakingly rapid decline in Detroit history.

[ejames01]

It might just be you. I didn't see anything odd either.

Well, you gave me the clip about Landry, whose a white male. And I'm not taking about the young woman from Davisburg who was killed by a 12 yr old. The young girl I'm referring to was the victim of a drive-by, but she was the wrong target.

This one:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/20552882/index.html

The mother comes in at about the 1:14 mark, but it's about 1:35, I'm talking about. I'm sure the mother is sad and we all express our feelings in our own ways, but she her body language gets to me.

[Zacha341]

I saw that broadcast... I think the mother was in a state of shock that in her case came "off matter-of-fact". The true revealing and unraveling of emotions come later often at the funerals, etc. To be for sure a certain bitterness that has set in, that is masking the true emotional face and response many are having and internalzing re. these senseless murders.

This is about the young girl who was the wrong target for a drive by, was shot and died I believe Monda night....did anyone see the Channel 4 interview with her mother? What an odd interview, she didn't seem sad, in fact you could as plain as day that she was trying to hide a smirk, I didn't like her appearance.

I just wanted to rant, really. But yes, there has seemed to be a rise in perhaps covered murders and it makes me lose hope...fast.

[Zacha341]

I don't see it like that... her attitude DOES show an irony and a matter of fact attitude born of violence so frequent it's hard to deal with, people are just frozen up emotionally. And besides why does the news insist on probing parents who's love ones have just been taken away in a morgue truck? I can see why some have a family or spokesperson speak for them. I could not have spoken to anyone behind such a crime of my loved one. Not a word, to be judged or whatever.......

Well, you gave me the clip about Landry, whose a white male. And I'm not taking about the young woman from Davisburg who was killed by a 12 yr old. The young girl I'm referring to was the victim of a drive-by, but she was the wrong target.

This one:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/20552882/index.html

The mother comes in at about the 1:14 mark, but it's about 1:35, I'm talking about. I'm sure the mother is sad and we all express our feelings in our own ways, but she her body language gets to me.

[Zacha341]

Absolutely, it's been higher! It's had an impact on my comings and goings. I don't go out as late as I once did... I am more mindful of people around me, more careful etc. But I suppose there are some still justifying all this saying "crime is everywhere". Sure, that is true in a broad sense, but crime is clearly higher in Detroit, right now! And if you live here, it's having an impact on you, or you are numb or dumb.

It seems more and more, every day, there is another senseless, callous crime being committed. Even my friends [[and several posters on this very site) most devoted to staying in the city are now truly scared for their lives.

This is more than "normal"... I mean, it seems the crimes are occurring with more frequency & evil within the last few months [[even weeks). There is an alarming trend of 'young' offenders & victims.

Examples in recent weeks [[and this is just what made the papers):
12-y/o shoots a woman
21-y/o carjacked & killed, allegedly by 2 teens
17-y/o tries to rob, then gets shot by intended victim
Movie crew mugged [[Then muggers caught! With awesome response time!)
Man beats girlfriend's 3 y/o to DEATH for wetting pants
19-y/o killed in crossfire, an "innocent bystander"
25-y/o accused of fireboming house with HIS OWN 5-y/o, ex-gf, & 2 others inside
19-y/o robs & kills 86-y/o
Repo-man shot 4 times, doing his job
Early 20-something killed over gas station argument
2 shootings on the 18th, one man in the head while sitting in car, other was a 30-y/o woman shot in bicep with glass shattered in her face
24-y/o shot in head in a driveway on Asbury Park

This situation is just out of control, and my heart is breaking. This is a very sincere post: I am not looking to start a flame-war, just mourning the loss of respect for humanity & life here. These victims [[and perps, let's not forget) are someone's son or daughter. What the hell is happening to us??

[SWMAP]

Thanks, 7051, for the information about the ambulance sirens. Helps to understand the proliferation of fire-sounding sirens.

However, I still really think there are a lot more fires in my neighborhood. In one week alone, the fire on pearl at W. Vernor, the fire on Fort at Cavalry and the abandoned store that went up on Monday at Junction and Howard. As well, about four house fires noticed over a two week-period in just the neighborhood that I walk my dog in.

I have an observation: I am pretty sure that kids are/were getting into the historic fire station on Junction & Rogers thru a basement window. The grate was removed. And I am pretty sure that the same kids, huge taggers, are firebugs as well. Who in the DFD might be interested in preserving this building from going up in flames? Who is responsible ongoing to secure it?

Like a kid who can't accept the reality of his parent's divorce and keeps hoping for reconciliation, I keep hoping that the DFD will come back to Junction someday and use that building.

[Homer]

Doubt if the Fire House on Junction will ever reopen. The new one on Fort West of Clark now houses that unit.
Junction building would make a great cafe/bar, taqueria,etc. Hope the city doesn't just let it sit and rot.

[REL]

This one:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/20552882/index.html

The mother comes in at about the 1:14 mark, but it's about 1:35, I'm talking about. I'm sure the mother is sad and we all express our feelings in our own ways, but she her body language gets to me.

Sorry for the wrong link, because that is indeed the interview I watched. Still scratching my head, though, because I didn't have the same observation. She's a mother who lost her daughter. You can't even see her body language. Besides, she's talking to some dude with a TV camera and a microphone in her face, not a friend or fellow family member. I don't think a mother needs to be taped sobbing hysterically non-stop for me to be convinced that she's mourning.

The only thing she seems numb to, to me, is probably having to retell the same story about her daughter being shot to the 80 people who showed up at her porch that day.

[gibran]

I know there are no simple solutions to this phenomenon...but one is developing a shift in how we all value human life and our children...labels and blaming victims obscures the real issues in crime...while we are quick to blame the children or their parents that is just part of the problem..when we all stop siloing our communities and practicing true social justice we can then invest correctly into the right accommodations that our challenged communities face.. [[ i heard some of this above with regional solutions to local problems: especially in regional cooperation.) If we gripe about problems in other communities then we distance ourselves from the creativity of working together. We need to recognize the issues that are real barriers and work together. Paradigms can change even in the worse situations ...but that takes creative new ways of thinking..and resource allocations...when we view all Americans as equals and realize that there is inequalities in systems, then maybe we can get past the status quo- which seems to be all that those who make a living on division seem to gain their power from...silos doesn't help anyone, not recognizing barriers and the past struggles do not help anyone either..what helps all people is an investment by all stakeholders into the future..we can stop blaming each other and start regionally working together..

the pressure of oppression is a yoke that effect all..and when people turn on each other or get violent many sit back and say "why"? When "why" is really evident...one just has to look at Warsaw, Gaza or any place where oppression ran it's course...some of our communities are suffering from PTSD and we then wonder why they lash out.

oppression is like a conqueror placing their foot on the vanquished neck and asking for more oxygen

[dtowncitylover]

Sorry for the wrong link, because that is indeed the interview I watched. Still scratching my head, though, because I didn't have the same observation. She's a mother who lost her daughter. You can't even see her body language. Besides, she's talking to some dude with a TV camera and a microphone in her face, not a friend or fellow family member. I don't think a mother needs to be taped sobbing hysterically non-stop for me to be convinced that she's mourning.

The only thing she seems numb to, to me, is probably having to retell the same story about her daughter being shot to the 80 people who showed up at her porch that day.

Alright, fair enough. We must be looking at differently. But body language has alot more to do with the body, facial expression is body language too, and that's what I mean.

[R8RBOB]

I would like for Detroit to strongly enforce a curfew. Detroit needs to lockdown these teens. A curfew allows them to shake down teens to intimdate them. As it stands these kids are fearless. Robbing people on bikes, roaming the streets after dark, carjacking, murder is being done by teenagers and it has to stop and one way to slow it down is a curfew, a real curfew.

[pffft]

Taylor family seems rather light-hearted...

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...n-Landry-death

[Russix]

Taylor family seems rather light-hearted...

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...n-Landry-death

Hmmm sounds familiar.......

...

Letkemann''s parents, speaking in a Wednesday evening press conference, told reporters they don''t believe their son had anything to do with the crime.

"My son''s heart is gold," his crying mother, Diane Letkemann, said. "There is no doubt in my mind he would never do this."

Added her husband, Peter Letkemann: "The kid that they''re talking about on TV is not my son. My son is not capable of this."

The couple said they''ve received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails from supportive friends and parents of friends.

Alex Letkemann is a typical teenager, his dad said. He said his life centers around "friends and fun and music."
“It seems so far out of character that it’s hard to believe,� Orlewicz father, William, said.

...

You can't blame the accused family members for being in complete denial. It's a natural reaction, practically a reflex. Nobody can easily accept that one of their close family members maybe a murder.

[pffft]

Laughing in the parking lot?

[daddeeo]

Anybody for an updated version of STRESS???

[buildingsofdetroit]

It's definitely worse in Hubbard Farms in Southwest Detroit. Car break-ins, especially. We don't have as much violent crime as other neighborhoods, and for that we're lucky, but there has to be at LEAST 10 times as many car break-ins over the last six months.

[mam2009]

I would like for Detroit to strongly enforce a curfew. Detroit needs to lockdown these teens. A curfew allows them to shake down teens to intimdate them. As it stands these kids are fearless. Robbing people on bikes, roaming the streets after dark, carjacking, murder is being done by teenagers and it has to stop and one way to slow it down is a curfew, a real curfew.

I've been thinking about that too. But do you think its practical to expect that a under-manned [[& underwomaned ) police department that already doesn't respond reliably when actual crimes are being committed will be able to actually enforce this? Are there any police officers out there who can respond to that?

[daddeeo]

How would they be KKK if most of them were black officers???