Stress

[Downriviera]

Is it time to bring back a refined version of the controversial decoy unit STRESS? [[Stop Robberies Enjoy Safe Streets} I'm tired of hearing about 90 year old ladies being raped and robbed, carjackings, etc. We use police women as decoys to bust the johns so why not. Your thoughts, please.

[davewindsor]

Is it time to bring back a refined version of the controversial decoy unit STRESS? [[Stop Robberies Enjoy Safe Streets} I'm tired of hearing about 90 year old ladies being raped and robbed, carjackings, etc. We use police women as decoys to bust the johns so why not. Your thoughts, please.

My guess is that there's not enough police resources to be proactive, only reactive to robberies, if that. Last statistic I read was that over 50% of homicides are unsolved in the city--the highest in the country. Why? Not enough police resources, and that's the highest priority out of the list. Unless the city can find the money to double the police budget, I doubt proactive solutions like you suggest are possible.

[Blueidone]

I thought I heard somewhere that the Federal Government was funding some new policing initiatives. Anyone have any info on that? Maybe if we could get some of those dollars, we could do something proactive.

[fryar]

I look forward to this thread playing itself out. All I have managed to google is that this was a controversial unit that certainly had an impact. What did they do? What does decoys mean, in this context? This sounds like an interesting idea that's sure to raise some controversy, and that I look forward to learning more about.

I did find a ten year old novel about a DPD cop assigned to investigate the shooting of two black Detroiters called Stress that is, peripherally, about the Stress unit, it seems.

[English]

I remember when I first heard about STRESS as a little girl in the 1980s, from older relatives. It was never in a good context.

[fryar]

Yeah, I gather as much from what little I have seen. It's unfortunate.

I'm curious to know what they did, like what their m.o. was, and the web is not being helpful. For example, I know what SWAT does. They're special weapons and tactics, they're sort of a paramilitary version of the police with tanks and whatnot that can actually storm places if needed. Stop robberies, enjoy safe streets? Their big trick was using decoys? I remember playing video games, where I would use a decoy to trick the missile into no longer pursuing my jet fighter [[or in the case of ToeJam and Earl, using a fake statue of me to confuse a gaggle of geese).

What the heck was S.T.R.E.S.S.?

[fryar]

Apart from that, I'm also surprised there isn't more federal funding available for the DPD to institute some programs. They used to talk a lot about how the feds would have to bail out state and local governments next. I would have imagined something would be out there.

[firstandten]

I found an article which gives a good history of the Stress unit, puts it in context with what was going on at the time. Its long, but I think its a good read, enjoy !






http://www.scribd.com/doc/30594925/D...t-s-Super-Cops

[1KielsonDrive]

S.T.R.E.S.S - Stop The Robberies Enjoy Safe Streets.

[jtf1972]

Ahh... the days when acronyms meant something!

[Cincinnati_Kid]

All STRESS [[pre-dominately white cops) did was ride around harassing young black men or women for just walking down the street. No, we don't need a re-incarnation of them.

[9mile&seneca]

They went from a tactical use of decoys to stop street crime, to home invasion. I guess in the bizzaro world that's a logical progression. Did they run out of actual criminals?

[econ expat]

They went from a tactical use of decoys to stop street crime, to home invasion. I guess in the bizzaro world that's a logical progression. Did they run out of actual criminals?

They ran out of jail cells, also, judges got lenient.

Triple the police force, whatever- it can't be effective if word is out that "they'll just give you probation"
No fear of punishment.

[Carey]

STRESS -- Stop The Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets -- sounded like a good idea in the early 1970s when the murder rate was soaring and crime seemed out of control: Use undercover cops as decoys, such as a stumbling drunks, in high-crime areas to attract bad guys, arrest them, and get them off the streets. Whatever success STRESS might have had was overshadowed by their toll of dead black men: 17 died at the hands of the mainly white STRESS units in what was then an overwhelmingly white DPD.
STRESS became a highly emotional issue. Ken Cockrel's father, the radical attorney, led the protest movement, which included marches, rallies and an incredible showdown at Ford Auditorium between Police Commissioner John Nichols and his deputy, James Bannon, and hundreds or even thousands, of anti-STRESS citizens.
The issue became further inflamed when STRESS cops encountered three young Detroiters who shot back, and a crazy manhunt took place that hurt a lot of innocent people. Finally, Coleman Young became mayor in 1974 after running on a platform whose main plank was ending STRESS and integrating a department he called "an army of occupation."
Detroit needs more cops. I don't think they need a unit named STRESS.

[Lowell]

At the peak of the STRESS controversy in 1972 I had a gig as a live-in manager a couple of flea bag apartment buildings in the lower Cass Corridor. Most of the tenants were elderly poor and many were victims of muggings, called yokings then, generally meaning they were grabbed in a headlock and had their pockets rifled.

On the surface it seemed to make sense but in reality it has little effect and the attacks continued. The area, very near Cass Tech, was far more densely populated then and was one where STRESS worked so the opportunities were many and police few.

The program probably would have continued were it not for a rogue police officer by the name of Raymond Peterson, said to have become an executioner and then planting a knife on his victim, to justify the use of deadly force. As this became uncovered it lead to questions about the deaths of other attackers leading to further distrust of the DPD in the already volatile post-riot Detroit.

Hayward Brown's [subject of the upcoming Detroit indie film "Vigilante--The Story of Hayward Brown"premiering Sept. 1] acquittal was attributed to the inability of the jury to trust the testimony of police officers. Such was the state of the DPD that the much reviled Coleman Young inherited and did much to clean up.

[daddeeo]

There were lawsuits up the wazoo for the city also because of Stress.
It became too controversial and costly for the program to continue.

[fryar]

Thanks for the explanation, guys. On paper, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Crazy stuff, what actually happened.

[1KielsonDrive]

All STRESS [[pre-dominately white cops) did was ride around harassing young black men or women for just walking down the street. No, we don't need a re-incarnation of them.

Absolutely correct.

[dtowncitylover]

I would be interesting to either interview a former STRESS member or someone do a report on them. Is there documentary somewhere out there?

[OriginalG313]

Also, remember Young ran against Nichols in 1973. And, Young narrowly beat him. What if Nichols had won and become mayor? Knowing what STRESS was about and how racial tension was rising imagine what the city would have been like in the summer of 1974.

[Carey]

Downtowncitylover:
Jim Bannon, who would have supervised STRESS in some way, is still around. i don't know him, nor know where he lives, but i'm told he's still in metro Detroit. He's an interesting guy: He basically ran the department under Chief Hart, and has a PhD in sociology from WSU. Some old timer in the DPD can probably help you.

[agirlintheD]

Downtowncitylover:
Jim Bannon, who would have supervised STRESS in some way, is still around. i don't know him, nor know where he lives, but i'm told he's still in metro Detroit. He's an interesting guy: He basically ran the department under Chief Hart, and has a PhD in sociology from WSU. Some old timer in the DPD can probably help you.

Like Ray1936?

[fryar]

I found an article which gives a good history of the Stress unit, puts it in context with what was going on at the time. Its long, but I think its a good read, enjoy !

http://www.scribd.com/doc/30594925/D...t-s-Super-Cops

Wouldn't say I enjoyed it, but holy shit, that's certainly "informative!" Clearly, a bunch of reprehensible stuff happened under the guise of S.T.R.E.S.S.

Downriviera, now that I know what it was, I would agree with some other version of "innovative Police program" and leave S.T.R.E.S.S. out of the picture. Anyway, I don't imagine it's a question of DPD tactics, they're just undermanned.We need $50M a year from someone - the feds? - to hire an additional 500 cops, and what has been said about the courts and prison system. Not a bunch of sting operations.

[1KielsonDrive]

Like Ray1936?

You wouldn't be talking about Ray of STRESS infamy, would you?

[mwilbert]

There isn't anything inherently wrong with running sting operations or decoy operations either. But there are likely to be problems if a police department doesn't have the trust of the community being policed, proper discipline, and internal controls. Even ignoring staffing considerations, it doesn't appear that the DPD is in a position to run those types of operations right now.