Detroit Police are big losers!

[Gannon]

When we had that trouble with the one window-breaker in Eastern Market last summer, the police were all over it.

They even had some hint when he might do it again, and warned us who lived nearby to be their eyes and ears...gave us their cell numbers and everything.


Nah, I'm sorry for your loss Sumas, honestly, but to bash the cops for not showing on this level of theft...when the apparent policy for years has been to go into the station to make a report...is perhaps excessive.

Cub's story...and the continual ones from Jams and D'Vision...now those make me wild. One intervention from the police at that level...when the young perps merely made an attempt and may be at a point where some leniency and local concern might be the turning point between following one path or another...would be perfect protective policing.


Cheers anyways...

[7miledog]

.... they have someone who is willing to be a witness and point out a criminal and they dont even investigate.

I was carjacked earlier this year, and police caught suspects driving the car a few days later; they released them without questioning them. Mind you, I was carjacked at gunpoint. I understand that it likely wasn't the people who actually carjacked me, but sometimes you actually have to investigate a crime to figure out who committed it. Questioning someone where they received the car seems like a pretty good investigative tool.

When asked why they would do such a ludicrous thing, they indicated that the prosecutor doesn't waste her time prosecuting possession of stolen vehicles, so they don't waste their time investigating them. And I was the 6th carjacking in a 12 hour period just in the eastern district. No fu*king wonder.

Wooooooossssaaahhhh! Northville, here I come!

[digitalvision]

I have relatives who are now suburban cops and it's a very common path, but I can tell you almost every time it's the spouses of the officer who make the decision to leave the city. There's a truly close call, or an injury, and wife/husband draws the line. There's usually the intent of staying at the beginning, but there's a point where it's the marriage or the city - and almost every time, marriage wins.

[preserve]

I'm seeing more police officers on bicycles and scooters and
walking, I do see improvement in response, it's slow coming
and again they have to prioritize the crime, but I do see it getting better. I haven't been a victim of crime for almost
20 years now, I know other have been victimized in my
neighborhood, but we are involved, we do patrol and we do attend the precinct community meetings and I feel we are being heard. Keep heart, it's got to get better.

[JStone]

I'm the first to say that things in the city are totally jacked up, particularly police response/protection and the general lack of enforcemnet of any laws, but I have to say that when my house was burglarized last February, police did show up within a half an hour to make a report and the officer on the scene called me the next day with my report number.

I also have to say that when my alarm was accidently set off last spring, the police showed up within 5 minutes.

I guess it all depends on timing and ones individual experience with the police that do show up.

I'm thankful for the "good cops" at least, but agree that Detroit needs to be much better.

[jerrytimes]

Not that I'm defending them because it's horrible that your purse got stolen, and it is their job to come to your call, but do you think that maybe the Detroit poice just don't care about some crimes that happen because a lot of people in the city don't do anything to help the police and they have this attitude toward them?

[Buy American]

The Detroit Police DO care about ALL crimes that happen. The police don't sit in their squad cars and pick and choose which crimes to respond to. There is a backlog of runs with every shift and, of course, a drive by, a bank robbery, a murder will take precident over a purse snatching. Yes, the police are very frustrated at the apathy the Detroiters show. Between apathy, fear of retaliation for being a witness to a crime, and a just plain "I don't care what happens to my neighbor" attitude, this is what the police have to deal with on a daily basis. Believe me, a person doesn't become a Detroit Police Officer on a whim. They don't join because of the money either, because with budget cuts, the pay is less than just about anywhere in the U.S.A. Most go into law enforcement with a "I'm going to make a difference" feeling....only to be jolted back to reality in the every day and common occurances in Detroit. I respect them, feel sorry for what they go through daily, and wish them all a safe return home to their families after their shift...many go home with terrible sense of not finishing a job, leaving people without answers, leaving runs unresponded to. Their hands are tied most of the time by the bureaucracy, so, instead of handcuffing criminals....they are the ones who have their hands shackled.

[Supersport]

I first spotted this thread a few days ago, and until now, I hadn't had time to give my 2 cents. So, as a Detroit Police Officer, let me offer you a glimpse into what I deal with on an almost daily basis, as well as some insight into why response times for certain crimes are slow.

As others have stated, 911 calls are given a rank of "priority," a word we've been advised not to use when talking with a complainant, because let's face it, nobody really cares to hear that their crime they were a victim of has a lower priority than somebody else.

A call comes into a 911 operator, the 911 operator then submits the police run to the appropriate police dispatcher. I'm not sure if 911, or our police dispatchers assign them their priority, but they are categorized at some point. From there, the runs are given out/volunteered. Once we are given a run, we are expected to be at the scene within 15 minutes. If not, then we have to have a reason why. One acceptable reason may be somebody ran a redlight in front of us, and we conducted a traffic stop. That is just one example, but for the most part, we arrive at scene within 5-10 minutes after we received the run. There is nothing we can do other than try to make a scene as soon as possible after receiving it.

Why the slow response times? Well, as I said, the runs are prioritized. An armed robbery, carjacking, person with a weapon, shots fired, Criminal Sexual Conduct, assault and battery in progress, and problem a dozen more runs out rank a breaking and entering just discovered. Often, when a house has been broke into, it happened while the home owner was away at work. While it would be nice for the police to arrive within minutes, those other runs out rank it.
My suggestion? Go into any police precinct, have a list of items that were taken, damage to the home, and how they seem to have got in and out of your home. You can even do a little CSI work yourself if you'd like, looking for a good set of fingerprints in which you could request evidence techs to come to your house and attempt to lift. Be aware though, this ain't Hollywood, and most everything you see on tv isn't reality. The two places you may get good prints are the glass on the window they made entry, and ultra smooth surfaces inside, like a tv screen, mirror, or dresser top, and that is only if they are clean. Door handles are next to impossible, and so is the window if it isn't fairly clean. The oils in your fingers will simply lift the dust off the surface, not leaving any prints behind. So that is my suggestion for reporting a B/E in the city of Detroit.

Why else are response times slow? Well, for starters, the department is seriously uderstaffed at this time. While I can't nail down the exact number, I can say with confidence that the department is about 500-1,000 officers UNDER budget. You read that correctly. The department is budgeted for a certain number of officers, and the department hasn't been meeting that number for several years. To make matters worse, the problem won't be resolved any time soon. Between 1984-1986 1,700 officers were hired, of which today between 900-1,200 officers remain. Some found it wasn't for them, some went to the suburbs, and some passed away over the years. With 20 year retirement for police officers, 25 years for higher rank officers, those 900-1,200 are now all eligable for retirement. That recent hiring wave over the past couple years, well, that brought on about 200 new officers. A number that doesn't even begin to cover the number of officers that retired during that time frame, so essentially no ground was gained. Some months last year saw between 20-30 officer retire.

I'm not sure whether the public realizes what a typical shift actually entails in the city of Detroit. An officer will likely get multiple "person with a weapon runs," and throw in a few "shots fired," runs as well. If there is a homicide scene, multiple units will be tied up in order to secure the crime scene, find witnesses, and crowd control...as everybody on the block has to come see what happened and try and trample through a crime scene because their brother lives on the next block. A few days ago nearly every unit in our district was assisting in trying to catch a mental patient running around Davison. The guy was bleeding all over from breaking windows out of businesses, was possibly hit by a car, off his meds, and strong as hell. Don't forget, slippery as shit because he was all bloody. It took about 5-7 of us to get the guy cuffed.

Do you think that type of run happens with frequency in the suburbs? How about gun runs and shots fired? I have a few friends in the suburbs who are officers, and what we deal with on a daily basis, they may deal with on a monthly, or even yearly basis.

Perhaps one of the top reasons for delayed response times though is our customers inability to understand what is and isn't a police matter. We will get calls for kids fighting. I'm not talking 8 kids beating the crap outta one kid. I'm talking two kids from the block who don't get along, say some words, and start scrapping. We get "Family Trouble" runs which amount to nothing more than arguments, no physical confrontations took place, they simply wanna "call the po-leece" on the family member. We have assault and battery runs in which a woman was assaulted by an ex-boyfriend, which she hasn't been dating in over a year, though let him stay the night last night. Oh yeah, she's made reports in the past on him too, though never followed through on charges. In that situation, we do our report, call domestic violence,call her back with a report number, and likely spend 1-1.5 hours on a run which will likely amount to no charges, as the complainant doesn't wish to come in and make a statement...."I don't wanna press charges, I just want it on record," as the saying goes.

Many of the police runs, the normal person would shake their head at and ask "They call the police for this?" It's a society/cultural thing I guess, that calling the police for non-police matters is simply the things to do.

I'd also like to address a few issues mentioned above. First and foremost, once your graduate the academy, you are not and CAN NOT be forced to serve for 2 years prior to leaving. You sign no contract, and have no obligations to stay. Secondly, those officers in the suburbs with the quick response times and excellant attitudes? Well, it should come as a surprise to many that the majority of them started out with DPD. Same officers, just in a different environment.

So how do things get better? I have some suggestions, but as with anything else, they take money, money that the state and city don't seem to have. First and foremost, we need those additional officers the city is budgeted for. That fix will be a slow one, as stated above, the last class in the academy is about to graduate. Total, we've gained about 225-250 officers over the past 2 years. During that same period, anywhere from 300-600 have retired, so you do the math. If a new class were to start today, it would be 6-10 months before they graduate, 18 months from the start before they are confirmed and able to work without a training officer....not as if the department abides by that. So you are looking at 18 months from today before you would gain another 25-50 officers, and it's a safe bet that another 200-300 will have retired by then. My only guess is that the same person that runs the numbers for police personell is also doing the city's accounting.

Equipment. Most every car we have has over 100,000 miles on it. Our cars are practically ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The only cool down time most cars get would be the 15 minutes between shift change. You can only imagine the added wear and tear that puts on a car. Computers, well, all they really do is take up space in the scout cars. We had a streak that lasted several months where I had a working computer almost every day. For whatever reason, those days are gone. It's probably been a month now since I've had one, which makes traffic stops and running names a much bigger pain in the ass. In my opinion, the problem has now grown beyond each individual scout car, as no computers are working. I believe its a system wide problem, likely caused by either bills not being paid, or the city not renewing a maintenance contract with a company. Much like the computers we do our reports on, which have had expired virus software for months.

Detroit Police Officers often get labeled, just as this thread labled officers as "The Biggest Losers." Yet these same officers make up the majority of your suburban departments, and even the majority of the chiefs in the region started out with DPD. Suburban officers are often in attendance during training courses held with the DPD as well. Around the country, DPD is one of the most respected agencies in the country. Often because of the type of work environment we work in, as well as our lack of resources we have to do our jobs. Though I haven't made Police week in Washington D.C., I'm told that when you make your way through the crowd, it's like the parting of the see, with an individual often yelling out "Make way, Detroit Police Officer coming through."

[Supersport]

Yesterday, my heart sank when I received word that a fellow officer/co-worker had been shot. I know the dangers that are out there and what we face, but those dangers often become an afterthought, tucked away in the back of your mind. Luckily, the officer is going to be fine, as the bullet went through his leg. I visited him at the hospital last night, and to listen to him talk was enough to get me choked up inside. He said "Man, I'm so proud right now. You don't know what it's like to be lying there shot and hear all the sirens coming from all directions, knowing help was on the way." I looked at him, and realized that that could be me, that could be any one of us in that room. I think any one of us would have felt the exact same feelings as well.

Biggest losers? I'll be called way worse on the streets today. Until you walk in our shoes, or even just do a ride along for a day, you'll have no idea why things are the way they are.

Here is an article that is food for thought, and allows a small window into my world, and what we deal with.

http://freep.com/article/20090910/NE...clog-up-courts

[cman710]

Supersport, I respect what you do for the city each and every day, and you are appreciated in many circles. I think your post is fantastic and gives a great window into what you need to deal with on a daily basis. DPD officers should be paid much better, given everything they deal with.

[eriedearie]

Supersport - thank you for the look inside of a typical day for an officer of the Detroit Police Department. You all deserve the utmost respect that your uniform dictates.

I hope your fellow officer will heal quickly.

Just keep your head down out there and be safe.

[agirlintheD]

Supersport, great post. As the wife of one the so-called "biggest losers", it's nice to hear some upbeat feedback from some posters. Thanks supersport!

[hhockey]

One only needs to look at the number of police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. These officers responded to calls of help, not turning away. So to say police officers are losers, i say the losers are the people who truly do not understand what a police officer goes through everyday. They risk their lives everyday because they care and want to do their job. They only ask for a little support.

[Jimaz]

From yesterday's Detroit News: Getting away with murder is the norm in Detroit

At least 7 in 10 people who committed murder in this city last year have gotten away with it....

The Detroit Police force, for its part, is underfunded and understaffed, said Evans, who was recently named the third Detroit police chief in a year. The Prosecutor's Office maintains that its budget has been slashed by a third over the past six years, leaving too few prosecutors and investigators to handle the load.

"I only have one part-time homicide investigator, if you can believe that," Worthy said....

Detroit homicide investigators are overworked, handling as many as three times the caseload of their counterparts across the country. One detective, exchanging his candor for confidentiality because he fears reprisal from his superiors, recalled having to take a bus to a crime scene because there were no working pool cars. Predictably, experienced detectives have been retiring.

More at the link.

[thecarl]

You Detroiters are just a bunch of crying whiners. The meter I parked in front of had expired for just 3 minutes and I was already written up for a ticket. Now that's good service!

YOU are a crying whiner! i found a $30 ticket on my car for being parked in a loading zone, while i was clearly parked within legal confines! i've got a picture of my car, and the signs showing where the loading zone begins and ends, and my car not being in it! but, i'll probably still lose when i take it to court!

[g-dub]

The circumstances that lead to long response times are totally understandable. That's something that the average officer has no control over. What the officers do have control over is how they treat the public. And while a lot of them are totally cool, there is a preponderance of asswipes wearing a badge who think that that badge gives them free license to be dicks. I have the utmost respect for those who dutifully put their lives on the line, but some of them challenge my respect by their lack of such when they routinely comport themselves with no respect for the public on a day to day basis.

There seems to be this overriding sense of "we're so overburdened, we don't have to extend any special courtesy to anyone"... and it is somehow okay to just treat every citizen like shite because they have the audacity to approach an officer with a concern or report of crime, or to report a car accident. That whole bouncer cliche--fat idiot who can't get laid takes his frustration out on average people out for a good time; couldn't get a job anywhere else and takes it out on people just going about their business. That whole cliched response you get when walking into a precinct, like, sigh, "here's another annoying taxpayer who pays my salary, interrupting my b.s. session with the boys. How my arm aches as it is forced to reach for a pen to fill out this report. God, I had to put in three years post-academy for this sucky 50K+ / year job sitting at this desk..." Shown up to bail someone out? Just sit tight while we ignore you for an hour or two. So burdensome the demands of the ever-needy public.

Is there something about having to work harder due to tight staffing and budgeting that somehow prevents police officers from providing at least a modicum of customer service? Visiting a precinct, one gets the impression that it's apparently so cushy of a gig that idle conversation and propping feet on a desk are considered a daily perk that somehow trumps actually dong one's job. I've seen it, and there's no way I'm the only one who has.

We all get that it's tough out there. And officers get shot. And calls have to be prioritized. But the citizen is not the enemy. The citizen pays you your suburban mortgage. How about paying them some respect?

Mind you this is directed to just a portion of the force. But if an officer [[or any police force sympathizer) has issues with this sentiment, it is not just me being a reactionary jerk. It's the way a lot of people feel, and it's the fault of those who perpetuate this negative stereotype daily, and seem to take some kind of sick pride in throwing their gleaming badge swagger around whenever they can who are to blame. If you want to change the perception, change things from within.

[Lowell]

Great posts officer Supersport! Thank you for your service to a city and people in need.

In another thread I expressed that we, as the citizens of all Detroit, need to unite the public safety forces of all metro communities and deploy them where the crime is. Just as in the military those cops deserve combat pay. Detroit, Highland Park and other impoverished communities should not have to fight this, the real war on terror, on their own.

[Buy American]

The Detroit Police DO care about ALL crimes that happen. The police don't sit in their squad cars and pick and choose which crimes to respond to. There is a backlog of runs with every shift and, of course, a drive by, a bank robbery, a murder will take precident over a purse snatching. Yes, the police are very frustrated at the apathy the Detroiters show. Between apathy, fear of retaliation for being a witness to a crime, and a just plain "I don't care what happens to my neighbor" attitude, this is what the police have to deal with on a daily basis. Believe me, a person doesn't become a Detroit Police Officer on a whim. They don't join because of the money either, because with budget cuts, the pay is less than just about anywhere in the U.S.A. Most go into law enforcement with a "I'm going to make a difference" feeling....only to be jolted back to reality in the every day and common occurances in Detroit. I respect them, feel sorry for what they go through daily, and wish them all a safe return home to their families after their shift...many go home with terrible sense of not finishing a job, leaving people without answers, leaving runs unresponded to. Their hands are tied most of the time by the bureaucracy, so, instead of handcuffing criminals....they are the ones who have their hands shackled.

Their hands are tied most of the time by the bureaucracy, so, instead of handcuffing criminals....they are the ones who have their hands shackled.

Change that and things will turn around.

[Retroit]

It's not a shortage of police that is the problem...it's the overabundance of criminals.

[tahleel]

Thieves know that nothing will happen if they caught. That is why they continue committing crimes.

I've had something stolen from me last year. Crime happened right in front of me. I chased the people down from Detroit to Madison Heights. Madison Heights PD pulled them over, and got the information of the thieves. They gave it to me, and told me to file it with Detroit PD. I did so, and nothing has every happened with them.

Over worked? No. Detroit has more police per citizen population than many other major cities.

Not caring? Possibly.

If anything happens, I called Wayne State PD. At least they have their shit together, unlike DPD.

-Tahleel

[ziggyselbin]

It seems fairly obvious that the Police in Detroit do not get much support from the citizens of Detroit.

I, along with others here was enlightened by Supersports contribution. Of course I do not live in Detroit but I wonder how different things might be were the Police seen as something other then a necessary evil.

[tahleel]

I've read your post, which gave great insight. I just couldn't over look this:

My suggestion? Go into any police precinct, have a list of items that were taken, damage to the home, and how they seem to have got in and out of your home.

Why? So you can have an officer promise you that a detective will call with a follow-up, who never will?

You can even do a little CSI work yourself if you'd like, looking for a good set of fingerprints in which you could request evidence techs to come to your house and attempt to lift.

A tech will NOT come out if its a simple B&E, especially without any loss of life.

So that is my suggestion for reporting a B/E in the city of Detroit.

As stated above, I had a theft from my house. I caught the guys doing it. Got names/addresses from Madison Heights PD, forwarded everything to Detroit. I still see the guy driving around since he lives down the street from me. DPD must've been hard at work on it.

-Tahleel

[sumas]

Thanks G dub for taking the time to express my concerns. Over worked, no way. A few years on the force and get a cushy, no engage the public job.

Are the few officers that actually engage in enforcement over worked and dealing with crime overwhelmed.......agreed!

The police force in this city could act as a deterrent for crime. Instead we are the nations leading crime joke. Why don’t we simply deploy more officers out there?

[jhartmich]

Supersport makes very good points, but I think he exaggerates that people conduct themselves the same in suburbs as they do in Detroit.

I also have friends in suburban Detroit police departments, and in joking fashion they admit that "what we could get away with in Detroit we could NEVER get away with here."

One friend, who is a Royal Oak PO, said that their administration is "all over them" if they get any hint of officers being disrespectful or rude, especially if it’s corroborated by another witness that the officer was ignorant. He was written up once and told directly, “you may have acted like that in “the jungle” [[Detroit), but that’s not how we behave here.”

The bottom line is - rude and ignorant is the norm in the city because IT"S ALLOWED TO HAPPEN without any repercussions. It happens in city hall and it defiantly happens in the police department. I respect you have a difficult job but you know, you could win me and other peoples support faster if you just stop being an asshole. I’ve never once shouted or talked disrespectfully at any officer but no matter, they seem to believe that they can address people in any unprofessional demeanor they wish because - THEY KNOW THEY CAN and no one will say a damn thing about it. Being nice and not demeaning could probably do more for community support than anything. I understand that MANY people treat the officers like shit but that is not an excuse for you to treat all others the way you’ve been treated. Like I said, rude and ignorant is the norm in the city because IT'S ALLOWED TO HAPPEN [[at all levels and in all departments) without any repercussions.

[DetroitDad]

About the snitching thing that was mentioned a few posts back;


I never got it. Well, I do agree that you should be loyal to friends, family and the neighborhood. But, isn't it your duty to protect those people and you neighborhoods for the kids? So snitching in some cases ain't snitchin at all! It's just plain old fashioned self-defense, you need to be protecting your family, friends, and neighborhood.

I don't know about you guys, but the broken window theory applies to social misconduct too. So, if someone opens up a crime filled drug house on my street, then I'm going to protect myself by any means necessary.