[[Literal) Fear & Loathing in Detroit: Me, Chief Godbee, car crimes and guns

[BShea]

Great. No follow up, no report to the police, nothing. You could ID the suspects, yet no follow up. And you wonder why things have gotten to this point?

I don't blame you for not getting in the middle of a crime. But I'm sure that you have a cell phone, and giving a description of the perps may have, in some small way, contributed to the capture of these smash and grab clowns.

Two young black guys in white t-shirts, whose faces and features I didn't look at. Think that's helpful much, especially since they were long gone before the cops that didn't up show up, didn't show up? Should we have lingered at midnight in the unlit parking lot waiting for some cops to maybe show up? I sure as shit wasn't pausing to make a call at that point. As I wrote, we told the doorman, and he called the cops within a couple of minutes of this happening. They didn't come or call back. And that is how life is downtown.

My larger point here was that a regular foot patrol [[or on the Segways or horses they have) could go a long way to disrupting this sort of petty crime; instead, they're committing resources to mass towing operations instead.

[Stosh]

Two young black guys in white t-shirts, whose faces and features I didn't look at. Think that's helpful much, especially since they were long gone before the cops that didn't up show up, didn't show up? Should we have lingered at midnight in the unlit parking lot waiting for some cops to maybe show up? I sure as shit wasn't pausing to make a call at that point. As I wrote, we told the doorman, and he called the cops within a couple of minutes of this happening. They didn't come or call back. And that is how life is downtown.

Yes I forgot, this IS Detroit, after all. Carry on.

[lincoln8740]

Speaking of cars getting broken into:

Three weeks ago
Went to the cvs on woodward and warren
Walked in, bought a paper for lunch
Walked out and they had smashed my yukon and yanked out the nav system/stereo

Less than three minutes

They were obviously following me.

When I called the insurance company the lady asked"did you call the police?"

I actually laughed out loud at her

[Russix]

Speaking of cars getting broken into:

Three weeks ago
Went to the cvs on woodward and warren
Walked in, bought a paper for lunch
Walked out and they had smashed my yukon and yanked out the nav system/stereo

Less than three minutes

They were obviously following me.

When I called the insurance company the lady asked"did you call the police?"

I actually laughed out loud at her

I'm pretty sure there's cameras on that lot. Pointless to pay for an Armed Security guard and not put up security cameras.

[bailey]

Speaking of cars getting broken into:

Three weeks ago
Went to the cvs on woodward and warren
Walked in, bought a paper for lunch
Walked out and they had smashed my yukon and yanked out the nav system/stereo

Less than three minutes

They were obviously following me.

When I called the insurance company the lady asked"did you call the police?"

I actually laughed out loud at her

in june, a friend of mine had the entire nav/stereo unit yanked out of his Escalade while at Eastland Mall...broad daylight on a saturday, was inside for as long as it took to return a shirt to Macy's, and he was parked right near the entrance. Nobody saw nuthin. I wonder if it's something about the GM models that makes smashing and grab really easy.

Yes I forgot, this IS Detroit, after all. Carry on.

I love it when you're coming out of a game or concert and it's the entire row of cars with windows blown out. I can understand one...maybe two, not to be a Detroit apologist, but crap like that happens everywhere [[see above).... what boggles my mind is how 10-15 widows get smashed out. No one noticed? really? that takes time, and makes lots of noise. Just amazing really. I've seen it outside the Majestic on Woodward, over in Brush Park around the condos, and on Library street behind Compuware [[where I was one of the ten).

[rsa.313]

The Boston-Edison HOA website tells of a security patrol that drives by from time to time. It costs a whopping $30 per month to subscribe to. It doesn't sound like the most meaningful patrol, but their model could be a starting point for some considerations.

that's $30 per month per household. it states they would need 150 homes to cover a 40 hour a week patrol. if only one home pays, then you only get one 1 hour patrol. security ain't cheap.

to add a little balance to the discussion; my neighbors and i have our precinct's area commander's direct desk line and cell phone number. from personal experience, response to a neighbor's B&E was under 12 minutes.

on the other hand, a friend had his car stolen from the curb at 1300 beaubien, so i'm defnitely not saying everything is peachy...

[fryar]

that's $30 per month per household. it states they would need 150 homes to cover a 40 hour a week patrol. if only one home pays, then you only get one 1 hour patrol. security ain't cheap.

In between the residents and business owners, that sounds perfectly cheap. The number of downtown residents alone is, what, in the low 4 digits? Think having a security patrol is good for business? Is scrubbing street art off retail facades cheap? You can't have [[too many) freeloaders of course, but I'd rather have my rent go up by $30 and have this dealt with. I'm paying $500-$1000 for my one bedroom, so it would appear to be only marginally more.

With thousands of residents and however-many businesses, I should think we're easily looking at more than 1 shift. They want 150 houses for a 40-hour shift? My old building, Cadillac Square, covers that and then some. There's lots of other multi-story residential units. And you think Greektown or Compuware may want to contribute? I'd imagine so, since the shared cost to each payor is fairly marginal. We could be looking at multiple simultaneous shifts.

IMHO, these guys either just don't have their act together, or were thwarted by a critical mass of landlords. To me, it's quite possibly a no-brainer [[since my research is not, of course, extensive).

6) Use a steering wheel lock.

Design and develop a stereo lock to foil 2-minute thefts of opportunity? If only there were a location with under-utilized expertise in manufacturing, low costs, and some experience with car thefts. If only there were such a place...

7) If you have a manual shift, a stereo that isn't worth stealing and and empty car, you might even leave the door unlocked.

I have bingo!

My larger point here was that a regular foot patrol [[or on the Segways or horses they have) could go a long way to disrupting this sort of petty crime; instead, they're committing resources to mass towing operations instead.

Those resources may be pulling their own weight or even profitable, however, in terms of marginal revenue equaling or exceeding marginal costs. I understand it's not a great argument, but surely that's why they're doing it.

Does anyone know who funds the thousands of man-hours that DPD spends as crossing guards for events downtown? During yesterdays joke of a parade they had officers at every side street along Woodward to make sure it was closed. It appeared that it was two officers per car, per street [[on each side of the intersection) for about 5-6 hours.

Who foots the bill for this. Is this DPD pulling officers off real patrols to ensure that Tigers fans know to cross on red?

I don't begrudge the officers their extra income, but you couldn't get some hourly workers to do that in this economy? This is related to the idea of shrinking the city: If we're going to be poor-n-broke, let's be smart about it, or we'll never get out of this mess.

Oh, yes. The officer works all night patrolling your neighborhood for extra pay, then pulls his cruiser in behind the doughnut shop to sleep during the day on the public's dime.

This is a valid concern. It should be addressed in some fashion. For example, officers working first shift during the week could pull extra shifts on weekends and irregular shifts of up to 5 hours during their M-F off-hours.

[spiritofdetroit]

The officers are limited to a certain number of extra hours. All of this will be done through the department. The company wanting the extra security pays DPD a small fee, plus the hourly wage to the officer.

In regards to the comment about hiring citizens for security - this is already done, obviously, but they do not have the authority to arrest or detain, or to call for backup, or to carry a weapon, etc, etc. They are not police officers. Under this plan, the officer, while technically "off-duty" retain all of their police authority, wearing their uniforms - which should act as more of a deterrent than a Securitas Rent-a-Cop.

[fryar]

In regards to the comment about hiring citizens for security - this is already done, obviously, but they do not have the authority to arrest or detain, or to call for backup, or to carry a weapon, etc, etc. They are not police officers. Under this plan, the officer, while technically "off-duty" retain all of their police authority, wearing their uniforms - which should act as more of a deterrent than a Securitas Rent-a-Cop.

Oh, absolutely. I made two completely different references. One had to do with blocking off sidestreets to traffic at street fairs. The other one, having to do with security patrols, I have no problem with the idea of having that be off-duty cops, and working around the existing policies. In fact, now that you mention it, if they were rent-a-cops, they probably should not be carrying, and restrict themselves to petty crime. Really, I doubt downtown is a magnet for murder, but if you can eliminate the break-ins and vandalism, it will make a huge difference to Reverend Jackson's clear-hold-build strategy for Baghdad, I mean Detroit, IMO [[tongue-in-cheek, but otherwise not kidding).