DETROIT POLICE - ARRESTS LOW.... MORALE LOW, DETROIT UNSAFE...
Rumor - has it - that arrest rates are down 80%, in Detroit, normally 300 a day, now 60 a day...a person connected to the Department has said and others say the rumor is well known and that supervisors have tried to COERCE... DPD officers into making more arrests....
Reasons are ooohhhh so numerous: Low starting pay $14.00 and hour ($8.00 and hour after taxes / pension), Wage cuts for senior officers, pension and benefit cuts, unfounded citizen complaints, constant criticism from people like, Ron Scott (Citizens Against Police Brutality) who seems to get a comment into every news story about police taking action... low hiring standards (GED minimum requirement), poor and unsafe equipment, and continuing UNDER STAFFING (1590 officers / more minus every month.
Where is the $113m that was supposed to flow to the DPD after bankruptcy ??????? The GM - Ford - Chrysler vehicles donated, over two (2) years ago, to the department, need to be replaced. A recent news story about two children being killed in a police chase, had the officer testifying that their 2004 scout car was so bad, they didn't want to drive it over 50 miles and hour - for the officers safety.
While (BILLIONAIRE) Ilitch and Gilbert and Ford get hundreds of millions of tax dollars (err: captured downtown development dollars) for an uneeded M1 Railway System - a transportation boon doggle, a baseball stadium, a ice area and a football stadium, Detroit Police Officers, Detroit Fire Fighters and EMS staffers still suffer from low pay, pension and benefits, while Ilitch, Gilbert and Ford reap millions of dollars from tax payers supported projects - if the projects are so lucrative, then let them borrow the money ( at 0% interest - from the Feds).
Call the Mayors office and City Council offices and demand a better police department, with increased hiring standards, better pay, pensions and benefits for officers / fire fighters and EMS techs. Your safety as a Detroit resident and / or Visitor depends on this....until it happens - Detroit will be unsafe - everyday and night.
Crime should be the #1 issue - everyone agreed during the election - but now the rich get the dough and residents the crumbs.
