DETROIT CITY COUNCIL TO CUT POLICE BUDGET - WRONG AND IGNORANT

What 'pain' is the Detroit City Council 'sharing' -

DPD just lost Officer Huff...they are understaffed (1000++), under equipped and undertrained and don't have enough jail space to house their prisoners..

A 7yr old girl is dead, a 17 year old is dead, a 69 yr old grandmother is dead etc etc etc
...criminals know that dpd is short jail space ...cant respond in a timely manner and the are
rewarded with even more cuts in the police budget....wrong wrong wrong

The mayor, council and pc need to sit down together and see where more money can do the most good...and what needs to be done to improve the dpd....(fed money).....
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Crime should be the #1 issue in Detroit - we need an all out war on crime and guns -
but the Detroit City Council wants to cut $6. million dollars from the police budget - that is incredibly stupid, shortsighted, and wrong and that is on top of the Mayor's cuts.

The DPD needs some structural changes to increase efficiencies:

adopt a Verified Response System for B&E alarms (to allow officers to respond faster to crimes in progress - and to stop them from being security guards for alarm companies).

get an agreement to use the WC jails/medical facilities for Detroit prisoners ( 1/2 of the jail cells were closed by xPC Cummings).

get rid of Crisnet report system (keeps officers in police stations too long / see Haddad memo)

raise the hiring standards - 2yrs college / military service, better background checks and better training...

The City Council and the Mayor must go to Washington, as a group, and get Federal funding (Homeland Security - special grants - etc) ...to get the money to hire officers, buy better equipment and to train and retrain officers.

If Council Chairman Pugh - doesn't understand this - and the Council doesn't act to improve the DPD, now - this will be indeed a bad summer for Detroit. Budget cuts is not proactive to solve Detroit's crime problem - it is a regressive - dangerous action that will cost residents lives.

David L. Malhalab
Sgt DPD Retired